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After break, Supreme Court to take up Ayodhya, other key cases
The Supreme Court in the coming days will be dealing with a bunch of urgent cases such as Rafale, BJP’s petition seeking permission to hold rath yatra in West Bengal, and the Ram Janambhoomi - Babri Masjid title dispute.
Reopening on Wednesday after a two-week Christmas-and-New-Year break, the Supreme Court of India will be dealing with a bunch of urgent cases such as the government of India’s application in the Rafale case (seeking some corrections in the judgement), the BJP’s petition seeking permission to hold a Rath Yatra in West Bengal, and the Ram Janambhoomi - Babri Masjid title dispute.
Most of these cases have significant political implications.
According to the list of business released by the Supreme Court registry, the Ram Janambhoomi matter, where the court will take up for hearing a bunch of petitions by Muslim and Hindu religious bodies, is fixed for January 4, but no specific dates have been given for hearing in the other cases.
The Ram Janamboomi case is listed before the bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul. On Friday, the court is likely to decide if the matter will be heard by a bench of two judges or three judges. Several Bharatiya Janata Party affiliates, including its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have asked for a legislation to facilitate the building of a Ram temple at the disputed site.
In the Rafale case, the Defence ministry has filed an application in the top court seeking correction in the December 14 judgment.
The mistake in the Rafale judgment says that the Comptroller and Auditor general of India, or CAG, the government’s auditor, submitted a report to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on the deal, and that redacted portions of the report are available in the public domain.
This error was picked up by some of the petitioners as well as opposition parties that claimed the government misled the court. The defence ministry filed an application in the top court, saying that the SC seems to have misunderstood its original submission. According to the ministry, part of the submission read: “The Government has already shared the pricing details with the CAG. The report of the CAG is examined by the PAC. Only a redacted version of the report is placed before the Parliament and in public domain”. The court read this to mean this process has already happened with respect to the deal, the government said.
The apex court is also likely to take up a petition by the West Bengal state unit of the BJP, seeking permission to carry out a Rath Yatra in the state. The state unit of the BJP filed the petition on December 24 and sought an urgent hearing on the same date by the top court, which was denied. The appeal came after a division bench of the Calcutta high court stayed a single judge bench order that allowed the party to hold the Rath Yatra in the state.
Congress leader, Sajjan Kumar convicted to a life term by Delhi High court for his role in the 1984 anti- Sikh riots, too has approached the top court seeking a stay on his sentence.
A PIL challenging a government notification that gives sweeping powers to investigating agencies to intercept and monitor data on computers has also been filed.
Another matter that will be closely watched in days to come is the SC’s verdict on CBI director Alok Verma’s petition challenging the government order divesting him of his powers.
