New Delhi: A newly-constituted five-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear the Ayodhya case on February 26. The hearing was delayed as Justice SA Bobde, who is a part of the five-judge Constitution bench, was on leave.

The apex court, on January 25, constituted a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice Abdul Nazeer, Justice SA Bobde and Justice DY Chandrachud to hear the Ayodhya case. The top court was scheduled to hear the case on January 29. However, the hearing was cancelled due to the unavailability of Justice Bobde. In 2010, the Allahabad High Court had divided the disputed land in Ayodhya into three parts for each of the parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The case has been pending before the top court for the last eight years. Parties in the case and various right-wing organisations have been asking for an early or day-to-day hearing for a long time. Last year, the top court had refused to grant an urgent hearing saying it had "other priorities" and posted the matter for hearing in the first week of January 2019 before the "appropriate bench". 

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