The new Chief Justice of India UU Lalit has given his very best shot from the first day of his joining office and without wasting any time, initiated the changes in listing and hearing of cases. For Tuesday, the CJI has already constituted two constitution benches that shall see four matters each.
Today, CJI has also decided to list at least four high profile cases which are over a decade old and had been waiting for some light on them.
1.Case of Contempt of Court against Prashant Bhushan
The case is of the year 2009, when Bhushan gave interviews in Tehelka magazine stating that half of the last 16 CJIs (8 CJI’s) have been corrupt. This was indeed a big charge on judiciary. A contempt case was initiated and Bhushan’s father, Senior Counsel Shanti Bhushan, in a sealed cover submitted the details of the corrupt CJI’s of Supreme Court.
The matter was not up for long and the case by 2012 was almost shelved. In the year 2020, a bench led by Justice Arun Mishra decided to hear it, but before the matter could be raised, the Justice retired.
The matter has finally seen the day and has been listed in the bench of Justice Indira Banerjee, Justice Surya Kant and Justice MM Sundresh.
2.Justice Sri Krishna Commission report on the 1992 Mumbai Riots
‘Action Committee for Implementation of Sri Krishna Report’ in 1998 filed a petition seeking implementation of the Krishna Commission report which which indicted many police officers and certain leaders of Shiv Sena for the 1992 Mumbai riots.
The matter which was listed in February 2020 . The petitioner said that the State Government had not taken any initiative to implement the findings of the report. The court also noted that even after been asked to file a detailed affidavit, regarding the action taken against the police officers, way back in December 2018, nothing was filed.
The Court had instructed the Secretary (Home) of the State of Maharashtra to file a detailed response/status report in respect of each and every such officer mentioned in the report which would include a response as to criminal action taken and its culmination
The matter is listed for the day, and will be heard by the bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka and Vikram Nath
3.Petition on Black Money by late Ram Jethmalani
Senior Advocate late Ram Jethmalani filed a petition in the year 2009 to bring back black money parked by Indians in foreign banks. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted by the top court to probe into the persons accused of stashing money abroad. The reports by the SIT were submitted in 2014,but are kept in sealed covers.
The SIT had submitted various reports to the Court from 2014. These reports are kept in sealed cover.In the meanwhile, Jethmalani meanwhile fell out with the Narendra Modi government over this issue as he had helped Modi in his 2014 parliamentary election run on the promise of bringing back the black money.
Late Jethmalani felt bad and cheated as he alleged that after coming to power, the BJP government did nothimg for bringing the black money. The case was last heard by the Supreme Court in April 2016 and has not been heard since then.
Jethmalani left the mortal World on year 2019.The case is listed for today in the bench of Justice S Abdul Nazeer, Justice AS Bopanna, Justice V Ramasubramanian
4.Ratan Tata plea in relation to Radia Tapes
The Tata Group’s former chairperson Ratan Tata had filed this petition seeking right to privacy after a telephonic conversation between lobbyist Nira Radia and various people including Tata had been published by media.
In his plea Tata had sought for an action against the same contending that it infringement of his right to privacy under Article 212.
The matter went shelved for some years, after which it was listed in July 2019.It has been three years since, it was last heard. The matter is listed for today under the able bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice PS Narasimha
5.Teesta Setalvad bail
Case pertains to the bail plea filed by activist Teesta Setalvad after she was arrested for allegedly fabricating documents to frame high-ranking officials including then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Godhra Riots cases. A notice in this regard was issued on August 22, after which a counter a counter affidavit was filed by the Apex Court stating that Setalvad conspired with a senior leader of a political party to fabricate evidence and received a huge sum of money for the same.
The matter shall be heard by the bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice, S Ravindra Bhat