Supreme Court In 2022 : Expected Changes & Developments

As the Supreme Court of India reopens today after the winter break, let us have a look at some of the changes and developments expected to take place in the judiciary in 2022.Three Chief JusticesThe year 2022 is likely to witness the tenure of three Chief Justices. The incumbent Chief Justice of India NV Ramana is set to retire on August 26, 2022. As per seniority turn, the next Chief Justice of India is Justice UU Lalit, who will have a short term of less than three months till November 8, 2022. The next judge in the line to be the CJI is Justice DY Chandrachud. Eight retirementsEight Supreme Court judges will retire in 2022. Apart from CJI Ramana and Justice Lalit, the other judges who retire this year are Justice R Subhash Reddy ( on 4th January 2022), Justice Vineet Saran (10th May 2022), Justice L Nageswara Rao (7th June 2022), Justice AM Khanwilkar (29th July 2022), Justice Indira Banerjee (23rd September 2022) and Justice Hemant Gupta (16th October 2022). The working strength of the Court will go down to 25 if no fresh appointments are made, with only three women Judges on the Bench. On 31st August last year,the total number of Judges on the Bench had reached 33 with one vacancy after nine new judges took oath as Supreme Court judgesExpected decisionsGujarat riots case- Zakia Jafri's plea for probe into larger conspiracy The Court will also deliver its judgment in the petition filed by Zakia Ehsan Jafri challenging the closure report filed by SIT discarding the allegations of larger conspiracy by high state functionaries and other entities in Gujarat riots of 2002. A bench led by Justice AM Khanwilkar(who is retiring this year) had reserved judgment in the case in December last year.Validity of FCRA amendmentsA bench headed by Justices AM Khanwilkar, who is also due to retire this year, will deliver its verdict in the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of FCRA amendments. The petitioners have argued that that the amendments have imposed harsh and excessive restrictions on the NGOs in utilizing foreign funds.NEET-PG counsellingA very important development in the first week of this year would be in the cases related to the NEET-PG counselling, where the Court will continue to hear a batch of writ petitions challenging the Centre's decision to introduce EWS/OBC reservation in the All India Quota for NEET. The Centre had told the Court that the counselling for NEET-PG admissions will not commence when the quota issue was pending adjudication. Resultantly, the resident doctors across the country had recently launched protests across the country recently against the delay in NEET-PG counselling. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on January 6. The Centre has told the Court that the expert committee has recommended the retention of the existing EWS criteria for the current admissions. Pegasus CaseThe independent expert committee constituted by the Supreme Court to look into the allegations of widespread and targeted surveillance of politicians, journalists, activists etc using the Pegasus spyware is expected to submit its report before the Supreme Court. On 27th October, the Court had directed the Committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran, to investigate the matter expeditiously and directed the matter to be listed after 8 weeks.Vijay Mallya caseThe Court, as it had expressed earlier, will go ahead with the sentence hearing in the contempt case against fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya. While posting the matter for hearing on January 18, 2022, the Court had earlier observed that even if Mallya - who is now in the United Kingdom from where the India Government is trying to extradite him- is not present before the Court on that day for any reason, it will hear the counsel on his behalf.Lakhimpur Kheri caseA status report will also be placed before the Court by the Committee monitoring the Lakhimpur Kheri case. The Court had appointed Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to monitor the investigation in the Lakhmipur Kheri violence of October 3, which claimed the lives of 8 persons, including 4 farmers, who were allegedly mowed down by vehicles in the convoy of Ashish Mishra, the son of Union Minister and BJP MP Ajay Kumar Mishra.Reservation in promotionsThe Court is expected to pass its verdict in relation to the petitions relating to reservation in promotions. A bench led by Justice Nageswara Rao(who is retiring this year) had reserved its judgement after the Centre and States had urged the Supreme Court to settle the confusion regarding the norms for reservation in promotions saying that several appointments have been stalled due to ambiguities. Mullaperiyar dispute between Kerala and Tamil NaduA bench led by Justice Khanwilkar will also decide on the final settlement of all the points of dispute between States of Kerala and Tamil...

Supreme Court In 2022 : Expected Changes & Developments

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