Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Misra (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal/File)
Three days after four senior judges questioned the conduct of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the allocation of cases, the Supreme Court Monday put out a list of seven cases which will be heard by a Constitution Bench starting January 18. Not one of the four judges — Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph — figure in this Bench.
The Constitution Bench, formed earlier to hear the matter of the challenge to Aadhaar, comprises CJI Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.
It will now take up for hearing the challenge to criminalisation of homosexuality (Section 377 case); restrictions on entry of women into the Sabarimala temple; the question raised by a Parsi woman that bars her entry into a fire temple because she had married outside her religion; a petition challenging the adultery provision in the Indian Penal Code which says a woman cannot be punished for adultery, and only the man can be punished; and a petition on whether legislators facing criminal cases should be disqualified at the stage of charges being framed against them. The sixth petition before the Bench concerns taxation while the seventh deals with consumer law.
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Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan B Lokur and Kurian Joseph address the press in New Delhi on Friday (Express Photo/File)
Two petitions demanding an independent probe into the 2014 death of CBI Special Judge B H Loya too will come up before a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan M Shantanagoudar on Tuesday. The matter was listed for Monday but was moved to Tuesday since Justice Shantanagoudar was not available.
Last Friday, the four senior judges, who held a press conference,said they had raised the question of allocation of the Loya matter with the CJI when they met him that morning.