An Action-Packed Week At Top Court

With only 3 working days left before CJI Gogoi retires, Mail Today takes a hard look at big upcoming verdicts and their implications

- Aneesha Mathur

While the longest standing and most politically crucial case in the country- the Ayodhya case, saw a verdict on Saturday, the three remaining working days of the Supreme court of India, before the scheduled retirement of CJI Ranjan Gogoi on November 17, will see several other important verdicts. The Apex court opens on Wednesday- 13 November, with Justice Gogoi set to retire on Sunday.

At the time this article was put together- on Monday afternoon-- The SC Website did not contain any information regarding any Judgment to be passed by the CJI led bench on Wednesday.

SABARIMALA REVIEW PLEA

Last September, the Sabarimala judgment of the five-judge bench- by then CJI Dipak Mishra, Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, and Indu Malhotra, had created a storm by allowing Women to enter the Ayyappa Shrine at Sabarimala and participate in the 40-day ritual pilgrimage.

The Majority judgment had clearly upheld the right of Women to worship on equal footing as men and had decried the ‘traditions’ that placed women at a disadvantage. However, Justice Malhotra- the sole woman judge on the bench had given a sharply worded dissenting opinion, where she argued that the judiciary could not “impose its own values” on faith, and must accept beliefs as a matter of faith.

48 review petitions had been filed against the verdict, with the Apex court under CJI Gogoi hearing the matter in open court for an entire day on February 6 this year. The Five judge bench now of CJI Gogoi, Justices Nariman, Khanwilkar, Chandrachud and Malhotra, is set to deliver its judgment before the retirement of CJI Gogoi.