Day One Of Constitution Bench Hearings- Here Is What Happened

Two Constitution Benches assembled in the Supreme Court to hear eight matters, as per the list announced last week.

The first Constitution Bench comprised of Chief Justice U. U. Lalit, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice Bela M. Trivedi and Justice J. B. Pardiwala.

The Bench had four matters listed before it i.e., State of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. v. B. Archana Reddy and Ors. regarding reservation to the Muslims in education and public service, The State of Punjab v. Sahil Mittal and Ors. regarding granting 50% reservation to Sikh Community in the institutions run by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, V. Vasanthakumar v. H. C. Bhatia and Ors. Ministry of Law and Justice Deputy Secretary and Ors. related to the setting up of benches of the Supreme Court and Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India which challenged the 103rd Amendment of the Constitution providing reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections.

The Court decided to hearing the pleas of Janhit Abhiyan and the State of Andhra Pradesh together, with Janhit Abhiyan being the lead case. The Bench granted time to the parties to file compilations and appointed Advocates Shadab Farasat, Mehfooz Nazki, Kanu Aggrawal and Nachiketa Joshi as Nodal Officers who are to ensure that proper compilations are filed. The Bench listed the matter on September 6 for passing directions and will start hearing the matter from September 13.

The Court adjourned the other two matters i.e., the matter regarding reservations in the institution run by SGPC and the matter regarding setting up of Benches of the Supreme Court.

The second Constitution Bench comprised of Justice Indira Banerjee, Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Surya Kant, Justice M. M. Sundresh and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia.

This Court also had four matters listed before it, which were M/s. Trimurthi Fragrances (P) Ltd. Through its Director v. Govt. Of N. C. T. Delhi, regarding commodities which would fall under the ambit of Sales Tax, Tej Prakash Pathak and Ors. v. Rajasthan High Court and Ors. regarding whether the rules for selection in an examination be changed after the process has begun, Pyarelal v. State of Haryana, regarding whether the executive while exercising its power under Article 161 formulate norms which can override Section 433A of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay Vs. Union of India and Anr. challenging polygamy including Nikah Halala, Nikah Mutah and Nikah Misyar.

While the Trimurthi Fragrances's and the Pyarelal's matters were adjourned to September, 13 for hearing, the Court impleaded the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Commission of Women (NCW) and the National Commission of Minorities and issued notices to them in Ashwini Puadhyay's matter. The Court will hear that matter after the Diwali holidays. Tej Prakash Pathak's matter will be heard on Tuesday.

Whereas the Chief Justice's Bench has said that it would hear the matters for 2.5 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Bench headed by Justice Indira Banerjee said today in reply to a query by Senior Advocate Shyam Diwan that it would hear the cases the whole day, once it commences hearing.