Rafale, Sabarimala, Ayodhya & More : Major Events To Look Forward To After SC Reopens

The Supreme Court will be dealing with a lot of crucial matters as it reopens on July 1 after a seven week recess.Some of the major events to look forward to are :Conspiracy plot against CJI in sexual harassment caseThe biggest event which shook the Court shortly before summer recess was the sexual harassment allegation made against the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by a former Court staff.After drawing criticism for the initial procedure adopted by the Court in reacting to the allegations, the apex court later constituted an internal committee to probe the allegations, comprising Justices Bobde, Indira Banerjee and Indu Malhotra. Though the complainant chose to withdraw from the proceedings, citing lack of confidence in its impartiality, the panel continued the proceedings to give a clean chit to the CJI.It remains to be seen what course of action will be taken by the complainant against the procedure. In a related development, the Delhi police has reinstated the husband and brother-in-law of the complainant, who were suspended from service. The complainant had alleged that the disciplinary action against them was part of the vindictive measure adopted by the CJI against her for protesting the alleged sexual advances.Also, the outcome of the probe led by former SC judge Justice A K Patnaik into the conspiracy plot behind the allegations against the CJI will be an important event to look forward to. A special bench of Justice Arun Mishra, R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta had appointed Justice Patnaik to conduct the probe on the basis of claim made by Advocate Utsav Bains that he was approached by fixers, corporate lobbyists and disgruntled employees to frame allegations against the CJI. In the first week of June, Justice Patnaik said that more time was needed to complete the probe.Rafale review verdictOn May 10, the last day before summer vacations, the Supreme Court had reserved orders on the review petitions filed against the December 14 verdict which had declined to order probe into the corruption allegations in the Rafale deal.The review petitions filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan and former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie placed reliance on certain documents leaked by media in order to argue that the Government had suppressed material information from the Court regarding the deal to procure 36 fighter jets from French company Dassault. The Court also heard an application for initiating perjury proceedings against officials who had allegedly misled the Court.On April 10, the bench of CJI Gogoi, Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph had rejected Centre's preliminary objections against examining the documents leaked by newspapers such as 'The Hindu'. The Attorney General K K Venugopal had argue that the documents were obtained without authorization and hence violated Official Secrets Act. But the bench rejected the preliminary objection, on the reasoning that illegality in obtaining evidence did not affect its admissibility in court proceedings, if they are otherwise relevant.The bench also reserved orders in a contempt petition filed BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi against Congress president Rahul Gandhi for attributing 'chwokidar chor hain' remarks to Supreme Court in connection with its April 10 verdict. The Congress chief expressed apology for attributing the comment, and said that the remark was made in the heat of political campaigning.Sabarimala review verdictThe Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court reserved orders on review petitions in Sabarimala case after giving a full day hearing to the petitioners on February 6.The Constitution Bench of CJI Gogoi, and Justices Khanwilkar, Nariman, Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra heard the arguments in a bunch of petition filed by the Travancore Devaswom Board, Pandalam Royal Family, and groups of devotees against the September 28 judgment, which declared right of women of all age groups to enter the temple. They essentially argued that the practice at temple was based on the celibate character of the deity. The petitioners also submitted that constitutional morality was a subjective test, which should not be applied in matters of faith. Religious beliefs cannot be tested on basis of rationality. The right to worship has to be exercised in consonance with the nature of deity and essential practice of the temple.They also submitted that the judgment erroneously imported the concept of "untouchability" under Article 17 to the situation of Sabarimala temple, without understanding its historical context.Ayodhya mediationOn the closing day, the SC had extended the time for completing Ayodhya mediation till August 15.This was on the basis of the interim report submitted by the mediation panel headed by former SC judge Justice F M Khalifulla seeking more time.In March, the Court had referred the matter for mediation to a court appointed panel of former SC judge Justice F M Khalifullah, Sri Sri Ravi Sankar and Senior Advocate Sriram Panchu. The...

Rafale, Sabarimala, Ayodhya & More : Major Events To Look Forward To After SC Reopens

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