No mediation panel needed on Ayodhya issue, says Ram Janambhoomi Nyas

As the litigation process on Ayodhya issue continues, the Ram Janambhoomi Nyas said on Thursday that such a committee was not needed at all as there is no dispute about where Lord Ram was born.

Mahant Kamal Nayan Das, a senior member of the Nyas, said the temple would be built in Ayodhya for which either the court gives permission or Parliament brings a legislation for it.

"We were always against the Supreme Court-appointed three-member mediation panel formed to resolve the Ayodhya dispute. There is actually no dispute on where Lord Ram was born. The world knows that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya and a temple should be built here," he told IANS.

The Nyas was founded as an independent trust by members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on January 25, 1993 to take charge of the disputed site and oversee the construction of the Ram temple.

Mahant Ram Chandra Paramhans was the first head of the Nyas and its members argued that it was created so that the government of India would not control the site and end up involving itself in the construction of the temple.

"We want the court to give its verdict on the basis of the facts presented before it during hearing of the case," Das said.
"All political parties are directly or indirectly favouring a temple here. No political party has opposed the temple because millions of Hindus have their sentiments attached to the issue," he added.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, had on March 8 set up the panel of mediators, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice F.M. Khalifulah.

The top court had ordered that the mediation would start within a week at Faizabad and that the panel would submit its report within four weeks.

The panel submitted an interim report in a sealed cover on May 7 after which the Supreme Court gave it time till August 15 to work out "an amicable solution" to the issue, on the request of the committee.

On July 11, the Constitution bench asked the mediation panel to submit a status report by today.

On Thursday, the top court gave the panel some more time for mediation and asked it to submit report by August 1.

It fixed August 2 as the next date of hearing to decide on future course of action.