The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde is holding its scheduled meeting on Thursday to discuss possible candidates for the appointment of judges in higher judiciary, sources familiar with the development said.
The apex court will have to re-constitute a five-judge bench to hear the pleas after Dussehra vacation as the ex-CJI Ramana and Justice R Subhash Reddy, who were part of the five-judge bench which had heard the pleas, have retired.
Justice Lalit will be the second CJI who was directly elevated to the apex court bench from the Bar.
Amid debate whether the Centre's decision to provide free COVID-19 vaccine to all above 18 years was triggered by the Supreme Court's recent remarks on the jab policy, a class Vth student of Kerala, Lidwina Joseph, has written to Chief Justice N V Ramana lauding the top court for its effective intervention and saving lives in the fight against pandemic.
The Supreme Court is all set to regain its full strength of 34 judges with the apex court collegium headed by CJI N V Ramana recommending names of the Chief Justice of Gauhati high court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat high court judge Justice Jamshed B Pardiwala for elevation to the apex court, sources said.
"Most of the members of first Lok sabha and Rajya Sabha were all lawyers and members from the legal fraternity. Unfortunately, we know what is happening now in the Parliament with respect to debates on laws," CJI Ramana said in his address to the bar members.
Chief Justice of India-designate Justice U U Lalit on Friday highlighted three areas on which he intends to work during his 74-day tenure as the head of the judiciary and said he would strive hard to ensure that at least one Constitution bench is functioning in the Supreme Court throughout the year.
Inaugurating the 39th chief justices' conference in New Delhi, which is being held after a gap of six years, the CJI outlined the agenda of the meeting and said the 'aim and object of today's conference is to discuss and identify the problems that are affecting the administration of justice'.
The Supreme Court Wednesday said the new system of mentioning cases for urgent hearing before apex court officials instead of its benches directly has been put in place to ensure that senior lawyers are not given "special priority" over their junior colleagues.
Justice NV Ramana is the senior-most judge in the top court after the CJI.
The Chief Justice of India, Justice N V Ramana Saturday said the Legislature needs to revisit laws and reform them to suit the needs of time and people so that they match 'practical realities'.
The SCBA had organised a poetry recital on Friday where the CJI was invited as the chief guest. Eminent poets like Ashok Chakradhar and Shambhu Shikhar recited their poems at the event.
Modi asserted that judicial reform is not merely a policy matter.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Thursday said the government not giving priority to the medical sector and its problems such as insufficient number of professionals and infrastructure are 'issues of immediate concern' as he lamented that doctors are brutally attacked on duty for someone else's failure.
Voicing concern over misuse of PILs, the CJI said it has now turned into "Personal Interest Litigation"
Justice Bobde, who decided several key cases during his tenure including the historic Ayodhya verdict, was administered oath as the 47th CJI in November 2019 and retired on Friday.
The Supreme Court on Thursday witnessed a heated exchange of words between Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh in a case related to allotment of a parcel of land for lawyers' chambers.
The year 2022 is going to be the second year since the inception of the top court in 1950 which will see three different CJIs in as many months.
It is for the first time in the history of the apex court that nine judges took oath of office at one go.
Besides the CJI, the seniormost judge, Justice N V Ramana, and justices R F Nariman, U U Lalit, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and L Nageswara Rao would deal with the PILs and social justice matters, usually involving the Centre and the states, and their instrumentalities as opposite parties.
The CJI said that to keep police excesses in check, dissemination of information about the constitutional right to legal aid and availability of free legal aid services is necessary.
Justice S A Bobde, who is heading the inquiry panel, has appointed Justice Malhotra to the committee.
A notice by the office of Supreme Court Secretary General also said that the report of the committee constituted as part of the in-house procedure is not liable to be made public.
Observing that Laxman rekha of separation of power is 'sacrosanct,' Chief Justice of India N V Ramana Friday said at times courts are compelled to intervene in the interest of justice and the intention is to nudge the executive, and not to usurp its role and they should not be projected as judiciary targeting another institution.
The Supreme Court on Monday regained its full strength of 34 judges as chief justice of Gauhati high court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat high court judge Justice Jamshed B Pardiwala took oath as apex court judges.
As the Supreme Court on Wednesday put on hold the application of sedition law, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju invoked "Lakshman Rekha" guiding different institutions, including the Executive and the Judiciary, and said no one should cross their "boundary".
The CJI also said the ancient Indian text "Nyayshastra" is "not a bit" inferior to Aristotle and the Persian system of logic, and "there is no reason why we should forsake, overlook, and not benefit from the geniuses of our ancestors".
Expressing displeasure over a tweet posted by a media organisation which falsely claimed that Chief Justice of India N V Ramana had met the kin of victims of Lakhmipur Kheri violence, the Supreme Court on Friday said it respects the media and their independence but this is 'not at all fair.'
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi upheld the 2010 Delhi high court verdict and dismissed three appeals filed by Secretary General of the Supreme Court and the Central Public Information officer of the apex court.
Justice S A Bobde, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, along with N V Ramana and Indira Banerjee will conduct an in-house inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
During the hearing, only the woman was present and the secretary general was not privy to the proceedings.
'Justice Ramana is a frequent visitor to the residence of the CJI. Because of this I fear that my affidavit and evidence will not receive an objective and fair hearing'
Prior to the swearing-in of Justices Hima Kohli, Nagarathna and Bela M Trivedi, only eight women judges, including sitting judge Justice Indira Banerjee, were appointed as apex court judges.
Allowing the Centre's review of the August 23, 2022 verdict, a bench Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra recalled the judgement delivered by a three-judge bench headed by former CJI NV Ramana.
The notion that 'judges are themselves appointing judges' is a myth as the judiciary is just one of the many players involved in the process of selecting judicial officers, Chief Justice of India N V Ramana said on Sunday.
"The government has cleared seven names out of the 106 judges and one out of the nine for chief justices, so far. I expect that the government will clear the rest of the names very soon. These appointments will take care of pendency to some extent. I seek the cooperation and support of the Government to enable access to justice and to strengthen democracy," CJI N V Ramana said.
The bench said it will take up the matter for hearing on Thursday.
Opposing the transfer of Madras high court Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee to Meghalaya, over 200 advocates of the Madras high court have signed a representation to the Chief Justice of India, N V Ramana and the Supreme Court collegium, seeking to reconsider the decision to shift CJ Banerjee.
The Supreme Court Bar Association has written to Chief Justice of India NV Ramana expressing anguish at the non-consideration of names of its members for elevation as judges in various high courts.
Ghanwat, also a senior leader of Shetkari Sangathan, said he will mobilise one lakh farmers and bring them to Delhi in the next couple of months demanding farm reforms.