In an exclusive interview with India Today TV, Justice SA Bobde said the Supreme Court is only deciding on the issues that have been raised by the litigants in the Ayodhya land dispute.

“We [the Supreme Court] are just deciding the issues that have been raised by the litigants in the Ayodhya case and none of them is a political issue,” Justice Bobde said.

On being asked if the cases like Ayodhya drag the Supreme Court in the political web, Justice SA Bobde said, “It is a landmark case but not political. It may have some ramifications that we cannot foresee now…”

Justice Bobde also said that all the Supreme Court has to do in the Ayodhya case is make a decision. When asked if the Ayodhya ruling in favour of a particular litigant concerns him as a judge, the CJI-designate said the Supreme Court will just decide the case which has been brought before it.

“I don’t think that we [Supreme Court] have to worry about it because all we have to do is make a decision. I don’t know what somebody might make out of it later but we deciding a case that has come to us,” he said.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who retires on November 17, is expected to deliver its verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute.

A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by the CJI, had reserved its verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute after a marathon hearing of 40 days. At present, the apex court is on Diwali break and will re-open on November 4.