SC reopens Tomorrow: A list of what is in store

Supreme Court will reopen Tomorrow after a 45 day summer break to a packed schedule. Following are the main issues of public interest coming up in the immediate future:VERDICT IN ARUNACHAL CASE: Supreme Courtis soon expected to deliver its verdict on an appeal against the Gauhati High Court order that upheld the discretionary powers of Governor J.P. Rajkhowa to summon or advance a sitting of the Arunachal Pradesh assembly. Former state assembly speaker Nabam Rebia had moved the apex court after the Itanagar bench of the high court decided to uphold the actions of the governor. The governor, on 9 December, advanced the date of the assembly session by a month to 16 December and had listed the removal of the speaker for the day. A five-judge constitution bench comprising Justices J.S. Khehar, Dipak Misra, Madan B. Lokur, P.C. Ghose and N.V. Ramana has heard arguments on the contours of the power and discretion of the governor under the constitution for over a month before reserving its judgment on February 22. The petition of the Congress challenging the centre’s imposition of the President’s rule and formation of a new government will be taken up by the top court after it decides on the governor’s role.VERDICT IN JAYALALITHAA DA CASE: The Bench comprising of Justices P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy of the Supreme Court had on June 7 reserved its Judgment in Appeals filed against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s acquittal in the disproportionate assets Case. The Karnataka government filed the Appeal on 23rd June, 2015 saying that the Karnataka High Court’s judgment was a “farce”, and that “arithmetical errors made the judgment illegal”. It is also argued that the judgment had resulted in “the miscarriage of justice” and should be quashed. Jayalalithaa and three of her associates were acquitted in the Disproportionate Assets case by a single judge of the Karnataka High Court in May 2015. The Trial Court had convicted and sentenced Jayalalithaa and her 3 associates to four years in prison besides imposing a Rs 100 crore fine, on September 27, 2014. Justice C R Kumaraswamy had allowed appeals filed by Jayalalithaa and others and reversed the conviction ordered by the trial court. The case has been dragging on for the past 19 years, going back to the year 1996 when friend-turned-foe Dr Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against J Jayalalitha, who was out of power at the time, alleging corruption and accumulation of assets disproportionate to her known sources of income.TRIPLE TALAQ ISSUE: The matter is coming up on June 29 itself. Exercise begun by Supreme Court in October 2015 to examine if practices like triple talaq and polygamy permitted by Islamic personal law resulted in gender discrimination within the community is set to gain momentum. It is to be noted that SC’s initiative led to several 'affected' Muslim women coming forward and filing petitions in the apex court challenging the validity of practices. The court is awaiting Centre’s stand on the issue.UTTARAKHAND ISSUE: After a nearly month long political drama, scenes of which even shifted to the Nainital High Court which eventually quashed the presidents rule, Harish Rawat was back in saddle as Chief Minister on May 12 as the Congress led government stormed back to power after the Supreme Court permitted the trust vote with a 33-28 victory against the BJP. The victory became easier as the apex court did not permit nine Congress rebel MLAs to vote as they had been disqualified. HC too had upheld their disqualification. On July 12 the apex court will hear the plea filed by the MLAs against their disqualification. The court had on May 12 issued notices to the speaker and CM Rawat on the petition.GAY RIGHTS ISSUE: On February 3, the Supreme Court had referred a batch of petitions against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era provision criminalising consensual sexual acts of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) adults in private, to a five-judge Constitution Bench for a possible back-to-roots, in-depth hearing.Admitting appeals filed by Naz Foundation against re-criminalising of homosexual acts by a two judge bench of the apex court in December 2013, a three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and Justices Anil R. Dave and J.S. Khehar gave credence to arguments that the threat imposed by the provision amounts to denial of the rights to privacy and dignity and results in gross miscarriage of justice. Chief Justice Thakur said the petitions pose several questions with “constitutional dimensions of importance” while dictating the order of reference to a Constitution Bench he would be setting up shortly. This Bench neither admitted the petitions nor issued notice to the government, leaving it to the future Constitution Bench to do so, if found necessary.NIRBHAYA CASE APPEALS: On April 8, the Supreme Court had appointed two senior lawyers as amicus curiae to assist the court in deciding the appeals of the four death row...

SC reopens Tomorrow: A list of what is in store

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