Under the new CJI UU Lait, now the cases will have to be heard three days a week and the entire hearing will have to be completed within a week.
A bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice JB Pardiwala took the above decision.
For the same, the Court has also appointed four lawyers to serve as nodal counsel in the four matters that are to be heard.
The four nodal counsels are advocates Shadan Farasat, Mahfooz Ahsan, Kanu Agrawal and Nachiketa Joshi.
The Court said “Nodal counsel shall see common compilation in 501 and 504 is ready. It should have relevant submissions, statutory instruments and case compilations. Compilation shall not include any case law so long as cases are not available. Only index of citations along with para and page numbers to be given so that reference to books can be made. Arguing counsel to submit written submission not exceeding 3 pages along with time”.
Two of the cases from the list of four that are kept for the final hearing will start on September 13, Tuesday.
The Court instructed”Considering the nature of matters, it is directed that item 504, Janhit Abhiyan vs Union of India – Pleas challenging the Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 which provides for grant of 10% quota to EWS in jobs and admissions in general category – will be taken first. The Janhit Abhiyan case will be the lead matter now. The other matter would be 501 (State of AP vs B Archana Reddy: (Whether Muslims, as a community, can be declared socially and educationally backward for the purposes of Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution?).
The two cases which would be taken up on September 6 for directions and September 13 for final hearing are
Janhit Abhiyan v. Union of India: This Plea challenges the prevailing system for the Election Commission of India current system of appointing members on the ground that Executive enjoys the power to make appointments.
State of AP v. B Archana Reddy: Another important case that os before the Court is whether Muslims, as a community, can be declared socially and educationally backward for the purpose of Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution?
The other two matters have been listred under the same bench but have been adjourned for the time being.
The other two matters are
State of Punjab v. Sahil Mitta: It is an important petition regarding notification that declares Sikh Educational institutions in the State of Punjab to be ‘minority’ and reserving 50 percent seats for the members of Sikh Community
V Vasanthakumar v. HC Bhatia: Plea regarding demand for Courts of Appeal with exclusive jurisdiction to hear and finally decide appeals from High Courts?