'Be Crisp, Pin-pointed, Precise': SC to Lawyer on 11th Day of Hearing in Ayodhya Case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, hearing the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute matter, told a lawyer for a Hindu party on Friday to be "pin-pointed" and "precise" in his submissions.

"Mr (Sushil) Jain, we look forward to your pin-pointed, crisp and precise arguments," the five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said as soon as the senior counsel for the Nirmohi Akhara started advancing his submissions.

The Allahabad High Court, in its 2010 judgment on four civil suits, had partitioned the 2.77-acre disputed land in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The Supreme Court bench, also comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer, had on Thursday asked Jain to explain as to how the Akhara could claim title over the disputed land in the capacity of a "shebait" of the deity.

Friday was the eleventh day of the hearing in the matter before the apex court.

So far, the Akhara's arguments were contrary to the case it had built in the high court, the bench observed and asked Jain to "build" his case "on merits".

"While arguing, always keep in mind that we have already looked at large part of the documents," it told Jain.

On being told by the lawyer that a note was prepared and he would take around a week to conclude his arguments, the bench said, "You don't need a week, take a day and try your best to put forward the case."

The bench said it had perused many documents and asked Jain to supplement the arguments advanced by other Hindu parties.

"You say that you will do this, you will do that, but you do not start," the bench told the senior lawyer.

Jain said the Akhara was very poor, it had no money and its temple was taken away, adding that the Hindu body was entitled to put forward its case.

"Mr Jain, still you have not started the submissions," the bench said, leading to commencement of arguments. The court would resume the hearing in the case on August 26.