Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to consider listing of a case challenging the constitutionality of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“We’ll examine and give a date,” a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud said. On September 23, former CJI UU Lalit had also agreed to consider listing the case after Dussehra break. Pursuant to taking note of the submissions of a counsel that the abrogation of the said article was an important constitutional issue, a bench led by CJI UU Lalit had said, “We’ll certainly list that. All mentioning slips come before me. We’ll certainly do that.”
In the wake of amendments, several petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, praying that the presidential orders issued under Article 370, repealing the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir, and the J&K (Reorganisation) Act, 2019, be declared as unconstitutional. One of the pleas stated that it was “striking at the heart of the principles on which the state of J&K had integrated”.
The hearing commenced on December 10, 2019 – four months after the repeal of the J&K special status – before a constitution bench comprising Justices N V Ramana (now retired), SK Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant.
During the course of hearings, some of the petitioners sought for the reference of the matter to a 7-judge bench in light of the contrasting opinions expressed by two coordinate benches of the Supreme Court in the cases of Prem Nath Kaul and Sampath Prakash.
Vide a judgement dated March 2, 2020 the Constitution Bench held that there was no need to refer the matter regarding the challenging to the presidential orders issued under Article 370 to a larger bench. Since then, there have been no signs of the listing of the pleas on Article 370. From the last week of March 2020, the SC went into a virtual lockdown, in view of the COVID-19, and only urgent matters were being taken up via video-conferencing.
‘Irritating… don’t keep mentioning it all the time’: SC
The SC on Wednesday reacted sternly to Bilkis Bano’s request for setting up a new bench for hearing her writ challenging the release of 11 convicts who had walked free on August 15, 2022. The convicts had gang raped her when she was five months pregnant and murdered seven members of her family during Godhra riots.
“Don’t keep on mentioning this matter all the time. It’s very irritating. Every day you mention the same matter. It will come up now sorry no,” CJI DY Chandrachud remarked when Bano’s lawyer advocate Shobha Gupta urged the bench to set up a new bench. On Tuesday, SC Judge Bela M Trivedi had recused from considering her writ. When the plea came up for hearing, Justice Ajay Rastogi said, “We’d not like to hear.”
Also in top court
1.58 cr kids addicted to substances: Govt to top courtA staggering 1.58 crore children aged between 10 and 17 years are addicted to substances in the country, the government told the SC. Citing data from a survey conducted following an apex court order, it said alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance by the Indians followed by cannabis and opioids.It added that the use of alcohol is considerably higher among men (27.3%) as compared to women (1.6%).
Apex court seeks Centre’s reply on same-sex marriageThe SC issued notice on two pleas seeking transfer of petitions pending in Delhi HC related to recognition of same-sex marriage. Considering senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy’s submission, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha agreed to seek Centre’s reply. The court also agreed to consider request of live streaming of the pleas. “Let the matter come up, then we will see,” the CJI said.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to consider listing of a case challenging the constitutionality of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“We’ll examine and give a date,” a bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud said. On September 23, former CJI UU Lalit had also agreed to consider listing the case after Dussehra break. Pursuant to taking note of the submissions of a counsel that the abrogation of the said article was an important constitutional issue, a bench led by CJI UU Lalit had said, “We’ll certainly list that. All mentioning slips come before me. We’ll certainly do that.”
In the wake of amendments, several petitions were filed before the Supreme Court, praying that the presidential orders issued under Article 370, repealing the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir, and the J&K (Reorganisation) Act, 2019, be declared as unconstitutional. One of the pleas stated that it was “striking at the heart of the principles on which the state of J&K had integrated”.
The hearing commenced on December 10, 2019 – four months after the repeal of the J&K special status – before a constitution bench comprising Justices N V Ramana (now retired), SK Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, B R Gavai and Surya Kant.
During the course of hearings, some of the petitioners sought for the reference of the matter to a 7-judge bench in light of the contrasting opinions expressed by two coordinate benches of the Supreme Court in the cases of Prem Nath Kaul and Sampath Prakash.
Vide a judgement dated March 2, 2020 the Constitution Bench held that there was no need to refer the matter regarding the challenging to the presidential orders issued under Article 370 to a larger bench. Since then, there have been no signs of the listing of the pleas on Article 370. From the last week of March 2020, the SC went into a virtual lockdown, in view of the COVID-19, and only urgent matters were being taken up via video-conferencing.
‘Irritating… don’t keep mentioning it all the time’: SC
The SC on Wednesday reacted sternly to Bilkis Bano’s request for setting up a new bench for hearing her writ challenging the release of 11 convicts who had walked free on August 15, 2022. The convicts had gang raped her when she was five months pregnant and murdered seven members of her family during Godhra riots.
“Don’t keep on mentioning this matter all the time. It’s very irritating. Every day you mention the same matter. It will come up now sorry no,” CJI DY Chandrachud remarked when Bano’s lawyer advocate Shobha Gupta urged the bench to set up a new bench. On Tuesday, SC Judge Bela M Trivedi had recused from considering her writ. When the plea came up for hearing, Justice Ajay Rastogi said, “We’d not like to hear.”
Also in top court
1.58 cr kids addicted to substances: Govt to top court
A staggering 1.58 crore children aged between 10 and 17 years are addicted to substances in the country, the government told the SC. Citing data from a survey conducted following an apex court order, it said alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance by the Indians followed by cannabis and opioids.It added that the use of alcohol is considerably higher among men (27.3%) as compared to women (1.6%).
Apex court seeks Centre’s reply on same-sex marriage
The SC issued notice on two pleas seeking transfer of petitions pending in Delhi HC related to recognition of same-sex marriage. Considering senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy’s submission, a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha agreed to seek Centre’s reply. The court also agreed to consider request of live streaming of the pleas. “Let the matter come up, then we will see,” the CJI said.
