New Delhi: When PILs filed by entrepreneurial activist-litigants raise issues that combine difficulty with their inherent particular difficulties, court decisions often invite harsh criticism from those who ‘tough cases make bad law’. are’, whose ideas were swiftly rejected. With celebratory approval from others who were justified.
A judge who validates a particular group’s stance is often hailed as the messiah who saved the country from obscenity, but when he rules against them, he is seen as the one who heralds the ‘dark days’. as defamed. The Supreme Court, its Chief Justice and judges will have to face many such situations in the year 2022. However, the severity of Covid and its new strains and the resulting restrictions on gatherings will decide whether ‘difficult cases’ – such as the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple or the mosque – that will attract a team of eminent lawyers to the courtroom, will be taken up this year. .
In the year 2022, the SC is going to take up a number of cases where non-appeasement of a vocal section can lead to sharp criticism of the judiciary and judges. Chief among them are the alleged use of military-grade Pegasus spyware to spy on politicians, journalists, activists and lawyers; Constitutional validity of section 124 (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code; entry of women into Sabarimala temple and mosques; OBC reservation in Panchayat/Civil body elections; And, last but not least, the validity of the constitutional amendment that scrapped Article 370 and the special status to Jammu and Kashmir and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.
The report of the Supreme Court-appointed high-level technical committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran, is expected this month and a subsequent hearing will decide whether the government was wrong. Although the Supreme Court is eager to decide the validity of Section 124, often used by the British to quell dissent and still used by governments regardless of party ideology, it was presented before a five- or seven-judge bench. May have to go because the provision was validated almost 60 years ago on January 20, 1962 by a five-judge bench headed by the then CJI BP Sinha with riders to prevent its misuse.
Petitions questioning the SC’s decision allowing entry of women in the age group of 10-50 years into Sabarimala temple as well as allowing Muslim women to enter mosques and Parsi women marrying non-Parsis in Agiari The petitions seeking that the CJI would constitute a 9-judge bench seems to be a remote possibility as these pleas would attract hundreds of lawyers to physically appear in the courtroom, as most would deal with such sensitive issues. Do not prefer virtual listening. The same will happen in the case of hearing petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370.
Reservation for OBCs in Panchayat elections remains a sensitive issue for the government and backward class communities. While deciding this legal dispute, the Supreme Court will have to do a constitutionally tough ropewalk. A similar approach would be required when considering the Centre’s plea for reintroducing reservation in promotions that had been stalled after the 2006 verdict in the M Nagaraj case, the judgment that prescribed a triple test for SC/ST reservation in promotions. was – first of all, the state should show the backwardness of the class; Secondly, it should show that there is inadequate representation of that class in the post/service for which reservation in promotion will be given; Third, it must be shown that reservation is in the interest of administrative efficiency.
The Supreme Court is also likely to give its verdict on a plea for the murder of activist Teesta Setalvad, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, that probed a larger conspiracy by top political leaders, bureaucrats and police officers. has sought. In 2009, the Supreme Court had asked its SIT to “investigate” Jafri’s complaint. After the investigation, the SIT had given a clean chit to the then CM Narendra Modi and ruled out any major conspiracy. Failed before the trial court and HC to probe the larger conspiracy, Jafri was joined by Setalvad to move the Supreme Court for a comprehensive inquiry into the conspiracy behind the communal riots. After hearing arguments for 14 days last month, the Supreme Court had reserved the verdict.
In addition to these important issues, there appears to be a marked increase in public discord between the executive and the judiciary, albeit subtly. If the Prime Minister talked about the impediments caused by development projects because of the judicial activism displayed while deciding motivated PILs, playing the role of a motivator by cleverly using the environment card, the President referred to the ‘Judges-Select-Judges’ Called for reforms in the collegium system. SC through its decision which was contrary to the constitutional provision on appointment of judges.
The CJI chose different occasions to fight back. There is a growing tendency in the executive to disregard and disregard judicial decisions and judges working with inadequate infrastructure are now facing increasing physical assaults, he said. The CJI said that it is the duty of the executive to create a conducive environment for the judges to discharge their duties freely and fearlessly.
On the necessary reforms in the current judicially created process for appointment of judges to Constitutional Courts, the CJI said that it has become fashionable to label the system as judge-select-judge by persons with vested interests and various stakeholders. Outlined the role, which includes the executive, in the appointment of judges. But, vacancies in trial courts and high courts remain a challenge for the CJI and judiciary as the cumulative pendency has crossed the four crore mark during the pandemic. Again, the CJI, like his predecessors, has tried to bracket all pending cases as a backlog.
It remains to be seen whether the CJI’s demand for setting up of a National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation, based on data collected from district courts across the country, gets the government’s nod this year.
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