The Supreme Court on Friday, March 8, referred the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land dispute case for mediation. The Court has constituted a three-member panel of mediators including Sri Sri Ravishankar, Justice Kalifulla and Sriram Panchu. The mediation panel will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla.
The panel has been given eight weeks to complete the mediation process and will have four weeks to give a status report. However, the apex court has given liberty to the mediators to include more members in the process if they want.
A brief look at the three mediators in the Ayodhya dispute case:
JUSTICE (RETIRED) FM IBRAHIM KALIFULLA
The Court has appointed former Supreme Court judge FM Kalifulla as the chairman of the panel. Justice Kalifulla, 68, is the son of Late Justice M Fakkir Mohamed, who started his career as an advocate in August 1975. Justice Kalifulla hails from Karaikudi in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. He started practising law in Chennai. In 2000, he was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Madras High Court. On September 18, 2011, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on April 2, 2012.
"I understand the top court has appointed a mediation committee headed by me. I'm yet to receive the order copy. I can say if a committee has been constituted we'll make every effort to resolve the issue amicably," Justice Kalifulla informed reporters after the apex court's order.
Justice Kalifulla was part of the apex court bench headed by then Chief Justice T S Thakur which ordered sweeping changes in the structure, management and functioning of the BCCI.
SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
Founder of the Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual guru and humanitarian leader. He has spearheaded an unprecedented worldwide movement for a stress-free, violence-free society. Sri Sri has developed unique, impactful programs that empower, equip and transform individuals to tackle challenges at global, national, community and individual levels.
Sri sri was born in in 1956 in Tamil Nadu's Papanasam. The leader has previously suggested an out-of-court settlement over the Ayodhya dispute. Taking to Twitter Sri Sri , "Respecting everyone, turning dreams to reality, ending long-standing conflicts happily and maintaining harmony in society - we must all move together towards these goals."
SRIRAM PANCHU
Sriram Panchu is a senior advocate and mediator. He is a founder of The Mediation Chambers, which offers services in mediation and med-arb. He is the president of the Association of Indian Mediators and a director on the board of the International Mediation Institute (IMI). He set up India's first court-annexed mediation centre in 2005 and has been instrumental in making mediation a part of India's legal system.
Panchu has mediated a large number of complex and high-value disputes across the range of commercial, corporate and contractual disputes in different parts of India. He has also mediated international commercial disputes. He has authored two books on mediation. Settle for More introduced mediation to the Indian audience. Mediation: Practice & Law (Butterworths, LexisNexis) is the standard manual in India. He has authored the Indian chapter of Getting the Deal Through.
