Supreme Court 2019 : Events & Controversies

A Chief Justice of India facing sexual harassment allegations for the first time ever in history, leading to a murky enquiry process set in by the Supreme Court, which ultimately absolved him!Serious questions about the independence of judiciary being raised in the wake of apex court's indifference and inaction on the contentious Kashmir lockdown!.Deep fault lines exposed within judiciary, particularly in the matter relating to appointments and transfers of judges!With all these, there were complaints that the Supreme Court did not rise up to its role as a protector of Constitution, when its interventions were most needed. So much so that there were comparisons drawn with the ignominy of the emergency-era Supreme Court. 2019 may not be get counted as a glorious year in the history of judiciary.Here is a year-end recap of the major controversies and events (in the order of chronology).Collegium U-turn : Elevation of Justices Dinesh Maheswari and Sanjiv KhannaThe Collegium decision of January 10 drew a lot of surprises, with proposals to elevate Justice Dinesh Maheswari and Sanjiv Khanna. This was controversial because earlier the Collegium had resolved on December 12, 2018 to elevate Justices Rajendra Menon and Pradeep Nandrajog to SC. The reasons for dropping this proposal to recommend the names of two relatively junior judges were not mentioned in the January 10 resolution. It merely mentioned that the Collegium had decided to take a "fresh look" at the December 12 decision after the winter break.This decision caused consternation even within the SC. Justice S K Kaul, a sitting SC judge, wrote to CJI questioning the decision to elevate Justice Khanna ignoring seniority.Justice Madan B Lokur, who was part of the December 12, 2018 Collegium decision, expressed surprise at the subsequent change, which was made after his retirement on December 30.Justice Sikri's withdrawal from appointment to CSATThe nomination of Justice A K Sikri by the Central Government for appointment as member in the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal became controversial, as it closely followed his participation in the Selection Committee meeting which recommended the removal of Alok Verma as CBI Director. Justice Sikri had taken part in the meeting as a nominee of the CJI.Following the controversy, Justice Sikri withdrew his consent.Tampering of order directing personal appearance of Anil AmbaniThe order issued by Court on January 7 requiring personal presence of Reliance Chairman Anil Ambani and other officers was found to be tampered with. Though the bench had specifically made it clear that personal appearance is not dispensed with, the copy of the order uploaded in the official website of the top court stated that personal appearance was dispensed with. This led to an internal enquiry, resulting in the summary dismissal of two court masters, Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakraborty.Good & Bad : 50 Important Supreme Court Judgments Of 2019 Forest Rights Act : Eviction of over 1 million forest dwellers ordered; later stayed A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee directed state governments to ensure the eviction of all those persons from forestland whose claims under the Forest Rights Act have been rejected. The order would have impacted over 1 million forest dwelling tribals. The order led to a lot of controversy and confusion, as most states were yet to streamline the claims and appeals processes under the Forest Rights Act. Later, on an application by the Central Government, the same bench stayed the eviction order. The matter is at present pending, and the Court has sought for data from states regarding claims under FRA.AG's submission on Rafale documents were stolen from MinistryThe Attorney General K K Venugopal's submission in the Rafale review case that the documents relied on by the petitioners were 'stolen' from the Ministry of Defence created a stir. Opposition leaders latched on AG's statement to attack the Government.Later, the AG swung to damage control mode by clarifying that he meant that the petitioners had used unauthorized photocopies of documents.25 Important SC Judgments On Criminal Law - 2019 CJI Sexual harassment conspiracy In an unusual suo moto proceeding, the SC convened an urgent sitting on a Saturday (April 20) in the wake of sexual harassment allegations surfacing against the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi.The former CJI, while sharing bench with Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna, denied the allegations and questioned the motives of the complainant, a former staff of SC. CJI Gogoi alleged that it was a conspiracy by fixers to "deactivate the judiciary".After the session, the Court passed an order (signed only by Justices Mishra and Khanna, with conspicuous omission of CJI Gogoi), advising media to exercise "restraint".Lawyers bodies Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association, Supreme Court Bar Association passed resolutions condemning the...

Supreme Court 2019 : Events & Controversies

Manu Sebastian

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