NEWS OF THE DAY 5 August 2019

Ayodhya case: RSS ideologue seeks live streaming of proceedings; SC refuses urgent hearing

The court said it would require institutional decision and deliberation on the matter.

RSS ideologue K.N. Govindacharya moved the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking live streaming or recording of the day-to-day hearing in the Ayodhya land dispute case, which is scheduled to commence from Tuesday.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a Bench comprising Justices S.A. Bobde and B.R. Gavai.

“We don’t know if we have equipment for live streaming or recording of proceedings,” the Bench told the counsel.

The court, while refusing to accord urgent hearing, said it would require institutional decision and deliberation on the matter.

A five-judge constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had on Friday said it would hold day-to-day hearing from Tuesday to decide the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute in Ayodhya, as the efforts to arrive at an amicable settlement through mediation have failed.

The apex court, which had taken note of the report of the three member mediation panel, headed by former apex court judge FMI Kalifulla, had said that the mediation proceedings, which went on for about four months, have not resulted in any final settlement and it has to decide the matter pending before it.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

On December 6, 1992, the Babri Masjid, constructed at the disputed site in the 16th century by Shia Muslim Mir Baqi, was demolished.

The central government had on January 29 moved the apex court seeking its nod to return the 67-acre undisputed acquired land around the disputed site to original owners.

The 0.313-acre plot, on which the disputed structure stood before it was demolished by ‘kar sevaks’ on December 6, 1992, was within the 2.77-acre disputed premises, the plea said.

The government had then acquired 67.703 acres, including the 2.77-acre plot, through a legislation in 1993. The Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas (RJN) is the owner of as much as 42 acres of the acquired non-disputed land.

The Centre’s plea said that the RJN (a trust to promote construction of Ram Temple) had also sought return of excess land acquired to original owners.

The Centre claimed that only 0.313 acre of land was disputed on which the structure stood before it was demolished by ‘kar sevaks’ on December 6, 1992.

A week later, another petition was filed challenging the constitutional validity of the 1993 central law on land acquisition in Ayodhya near the disputed site, contending that Parliament has no legislative competence to acquire land belonging to the state.

Seven individuals, including two Lucknow-based lawyers claiming to be devotees of Ram Lalla, said state legislature has exclusive power to make provisions on management of religious affairs inside its territory.

The plea said the Acquisition of Certain Areas of Ayodhya Act, 1993, infringes the right to religion of Hindus guaranteed and protected by Article 25 of the Constitution.

U.S., South Korea prepare military drills despite North’s ire

Nuclear negotiations have been on a standstill since the collapse of the second Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam in February over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament.

South Korea and the United States are preparing to hold their annual joint military exercises despite warnings from North Korea that the drills could derail fragile nuclear diplomacy, Seoul’s military said on Monday.

Choi Hyun-soo, spokeswoman of Seoul’s Defense Ministry, said the exercises will be focused on verifying Seoul’s capabilities for its planned retaking of wartime operational control of its troops from Washington. She did not confirm or deny reports that the drills, which are expected to be computer simulated and not involve actual combat troops and equipment, began on Monday.

North Korea recently has been ramping up its weapons tests, including two test firings of what it described as a new rocket artillery system last week, while expressing frustration over the continuance of U.S.-South Korea drills it sees as an invasion rehearsal and also the slow pace of nuclear negotiations with the United States.

North Korea had said it will wait to see if the August exercises actually take place to decide on the fate of its diplomacy with the United States and also whether to continue its unilateral suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests, which leader Kim Jong Un announced last year amid a diplomatic outreach to Washington.

The allies have scaled down their major military exercises and also stopped regional dispatches of U.S. strategic assets such as long-range bombers and aircraft carriers since the first summit between Mr. Kim and President Donald Trump in Singapore in June last year to create space for diplomacy.

The North insists even the downsized drills violate agreements between Mr. Kim and Mr. Trump, who in Singapore vowed to improve bilateral ties and issued a vague statement on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur.

Nuclear negotiations have been on a standstill since the collapse of the second Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam in February over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament.

The North’s recent weapons tests, which also included a short-range ballistic missile test on July 25 it described as a “solemn warning” to South Korea over its planned military drills with the United States, have dampened the optimism that followed the third summit between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim on June 30 at the inter-Korean border. The leaders agreed to resume working-level nuclear talks that stalled since February, but there have been no known meetings between the two sides since then.

(SOURCE – THE HINDU)

shivam