Chief Justice of India J S Khehar
First To Draft
Going by cross-references of the judges in the three separate judgments behind the instant triple talaq order, it appears Chief Justice of India J S Khehar was the first to write the judgment, followed by Justice Rohinton Nariman. Justice Kurian Joseph wrote after both of them. It so happens, Justice Nariman’s judgment suggests perusal of a copy of CJI Khehar’s judgment but doesn’t refer to Justice Joseph’s judgment. That the CJI does not refer to the judgments of his brother judges indicates he has not seen their judgments. In contrast, Justice Joseph’s judgment refers to both the CJI and Justice Nariman’s arguments, indicating he may have have written last.
A Case of Recall
Justice Rohinton Nariman’s judgment in the instant triple talaq case referred to the judgment of a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in a 1996 case (State of A.P. v McDowell and Co) in which Nariman was a counsel. The bench had then rejected his argument that a law can be struck down on the basis of arbitrariness. It was a case of Justice Rohinton Nariman (2017) referring to Counsel Rohinton Nariman (1996).
Total Review
Amid talks of possible churning in the Railways following the latest derailment, top offices of the government have quietly began a ‘360-degree review’ of two Railway Board members — member-rolling stock and member-traction. Officials say it is not clear what the outcome will be, but senior government sources say that after Saturday’s mishap, the Cabinet Secretariat has began processing a lot of data on railway cadres, seniority and existing reporting line down to level of DRM in Railways. On their part, existing Railway Board members have together communicated to minister Suresh Prabhu and MoS Manoj Sinha that taking action against member-engineering for an accident was perhaps a bit too much.
