The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an application seeking the recusal of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud from hearing the pleas relating to legal validation for same-sex marriages.
Samajwadi Party leader and Kairana MP Iqra Choudhary has moved the Supreme Court seeking effective implementation of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. This move comes amidst several petitions challenging the law's validity, including those filed by the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay. The Supreme Court, in December 2022, had restrained all courts from examining fresh suits and passing interim orders in pending cases seeking to reclaim religious places. The Act aims to maintain the religious character of places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947, but the dispute relating to Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was kept out of its purview. The court has listed Choudhary's plea with other pending pleas for February 17.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has criticized the government's decision to appoint Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) in the middle of the night, arguing that it is "disrespectful" and "discourteous" given the ongoing Supreme Court challenge to the selection process. Gandhi presented a dissent note to the selection committee, stating that the process violates the Supreme Court order and undermines the integrity of the electoral process.
"What the legislature cannot do is to say that we think the judgment is wrong and therefore we overrule the judgment. The judgment of a court cannot be directly overruled by the legislature," the CJI said.
In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court by a majority of 7:2 on Tuesday held all private properties cannot form part of "material resources of the community" empowering states to take them over for distribution to serve "common good" under the Constitution.
The bench asked the petitioner to circulate three copies of the petition for the three judges and cautioned with imposition of fine.
"A wise exercise of judicial authority, both on and off the Bench, is what sustains the credibility and legitimacy of the judiciary and the confidence which society has in its Judges," the CJI wrote.
Modi observed that the Supreme Court has decided to translate operative part of the judgment in language spoken by the litigant.
"This is complete abuse of the process," said the bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra while junking the PIL on the issue.
"We have prepared a broad platform where we have assessed the top 50 judges of the country who would be considered for appointment to the Supreme Court of India. We have data on judgments and the quality of judgments. The idea is to make the process of appointment in the Supreme Court more transparent," the CJI said.
Defending the collegium's decision to appoint advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri appointment as a judge of the Madras high court, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has said one should not be "cold calling" individuals merely for views they may have held as lawyers.
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside caste-based discriminatory provisions of prison manuals of around 11 states while deprecating the practice of distribution of work and segregation of prisoners in separate wards on basis of their castes.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed a Sambhal trial court to temporarily halt proceedings in the case over the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid and its survey at Chandausi while directing the UP government to maintain peace and harmony in the violence-hit town.
The Supreme Court has sought details from the Allahabad High Court regarding controversial statements made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav at a VHP function. The development comes amid calls for action against the judge for his remarks, which have been labeled as hate speech by some. The judge's statements were made at a VHP function on December 8, where he spoke about the Uniform Civil Code and the law working according to the majority. Several individuals and organizations, including lawyer Prashant Bhushan and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, have called for an inquiry into the judge's conduct and for his removal from judicial duties.
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.
The CJI got irked when the lawyer first sought an early hearing of his case and, after being told that it will be listed on April 17, asked for liberty to mention it before another bench.
The Supreme Court of India has sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding pleas seeking verification of burnt memory and symbol loading units in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The court directed the ECI to refrain from erasing or reloading data during the verification process and to explain the procedure adopted for verification. The bench also expressed concerns over the high cost of verification and directed the ECI to reduce the fee. The court's directive comes following its previous judgement where it allowed aggrieved candidates to seek verification of EVMs.
Chief Justice of India U U Lalit on Saturday got teary-eyed while reminiscing about the time he spent in Nagpur at the beginning of his career as a lawyer.
The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the question of Aligarh Muslim University's minority status to a fresh bench and overruled the 1967 judgment that said the university cannot be considered a minority institution since it was created by a central law.
Besides the present CJI Chandrachud, former CJIs Ranjan Gogoi and SA Bobde and former judges Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer were part of the bench which had delivered the historic verdict on November 9, 2019.
The Supreme Court of India has extended its stay on a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex in Mathura, which is located adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. The court deferred the hearing on a plea against the survey to April 1, while the interim order staying the survey will continue to operate. The Hindu side claims that the mosque complex holds signs of a temple that once existed at the site, while the Muslim side contends that the lawsuits filed by the Hindu litigants violate the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.
...educated people are better decision-makers must be rejected, the CJI said.
Outgoing Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit turned nostalgic on Monday as he recalled his journey of nearly 37 years in the Supreme Court, saying he enjoyed his stint both as a lawyer and a judge.
"More voters were added in Maharashtra in five months between the Lok Sabha and assembly polls than in five years," the former Congress president said.
Commencing hearing on pleas challenging the constitutionality of the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to reply to cross-pleas against or seeking implementation of statute.
Justice Ramana, who had taken over as head of the Indian judiciary from predecessor SA Bobde on April 24, 2021 as the 48th CJI, is scheduled to demit office on August 26 after a tenure of over 16 months.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act related to the grant of Indian citizenship to illegal immigrants in Assam by a majority verdict of 4:1.
Lawyers flooded the courtroom of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to witness the proceedings as one special guest -- Aamir Khan -- was seated in the front row.
As part of the procedure, the law minister writes to the CJI to name his or her successor.
The Supreme Court said on Monday it will have to constitute a bench to hear a plea against the collegium system of appointment of judges to the apex court and high courts.
He would have a tenure of two years and is due to retire on November 10, 2024.
"If somebody has any urgency, we are here for mentioning. Otherwise, we will be able to sort out with these directions," he told lawyers who were in a queue for mentioning cases for urgent listing.
Terming pendency of cases a 'huge challenge', Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Friday expressed regret for not being able to pay much attention to issues of listing and posting of matters for hearing in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Monday termed as "fake" and "ill-intended" a social media post exhorting the public to protest against authorities using a file photograph and falsely quoting Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
The division bench of the high court noted that certain allegations have also been levelled against them in the petition, and said it cannot hear the case.
Chief Justice of India N V Ramana on Thursday set in motion the process of appointment of his successor by recommending the name of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, the most senior judge, to the Centre.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that a date of hearing has been accorded to a PIL seeking probe into the Hathras stampede that left 121 dead.
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 Supreme Court of India has ruled that the secular nature of the state does not prevent it from interfering with religious practices and attitudes when they impede development and the right to equality in the larger public interest. The court dismissed pleas challenging the 1976 amendment to the Constitution, which added the terms "socialist", "secular", and "integrity" to the Preamble, stating that Parliament's amending power extends to the Preamble as well.
Commencing final arguments on a batch of pleas against the verdict, the bench, heard senior lawyers including Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Salman Khursheed and Menaka Guruswamy for the petitioners.
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