Supreme Court set for action-packed week as CJI Dipak Misra's stint ends

As Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra packs his bag to call it a day on October 1, his last working day in office, he barely has a minute to rest this week. He is expected to deliver nine path-breaking decisions that could shape the social, economic, political and religious narrative of the country in the times to come. These include Aadhaar, Ayodhya title dispute case, SC/ST quota in promotions, making adultery gender-neutral, allowing all women to access Kerala's Sabarimala shrine, disqualification of legislators facing heinous charges, and live-streaming Supreme Court proceedings.

But the million dollar question being asked is – will the CJI deliver all the verdicts. Only five working days remain between Tuesday and October 1 and, in between this period, those judges with whom CJI shared various benches while hearing the matter have to be prepared with their judgments as well. In the event, any one member of a bench fails to prepare the judgment the decision cannot be delivered, leaving the SC with no choice but to hear the entire matter afresh. Definitely, this is not a prospect the country would have expected after a long wait.

For instance, the decision on petitions challenging Aadhaar were reserved on May 10. The petitions had been pending in the top court since 2012. During this while, final arguments had commenced at one stage but remained incomplete as one among the two judges hearing the case retired. The matter travelled to another bench which sent the matter to a Constitution bench to determine whether right to privacy is a fundamental right. On August 24, 2017, privacy was declared a fundamental right. Following this, petitions challenging Aadhaar and the Act of 2016 introducing the unique id. re-commenced on the question whether the state can force its citizens to part with biometrics, particularly when there exists no legal framework to secure it against possible pilferage.

Along with CJI, the other judges who heard the Aadhaar case were justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. In the matter reviewing criteria for SC/ST reservation in promotion, CJI shared the bench with Justices Kurian Joseph, RF Nariman, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Indu Malhotra, a totally different set of judges. The Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute case was heard by CJI, Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, again a different combination. Orders on disqualification of elected legislators, Sabarimala case, petition to make adultery an offence even against women, involved a bench of CJI, Justices RF Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud, and Indu Malhotra. So the pressure is equally on these judges to deliver decision in the landmark cases.

While there is no written rule that fixes a time frame for a judgment is to be given after it is reserved, it's a common practice among judges to discuss their judgment, decide whether there is unanimity on a given topic or division, and circulating the draft judgment among the judges constituting the bench. Once a matter is reserved by a regular or Constitution bench, an informal discussion takes place on the subject to ascertain the lead judgment (the majority view). Once the draft of the lead judgment is prepared, other judges go through it and choose to either subscribe with the view or prepare separate drafts either in support or opposed to the view. Once judges are ready with their individual judgments, the Registry is intimated about the pronouncement of the case.

In the past weeks, few judges who shared benches with CJI in the aforesaid matters have taken leave for a brief spell. Others have risen early to finish the pending work. These are all indications that suggest that it will be an action-packed week ahead in the Supreme Court.