Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 07 May 2018 | Page 22
COURTING JUSTICE
JITENDER GUPTA
Verdict:
Chief Justice of India Dipak Mi
by Bhavna Vij-Aurora
T
HE day after Vice-President
M. Venkaiah Naidu, as chair-
man of the Rajya Sabha, reje
cted the Opposition’s move to
impeach Chief Justice of India
(CJI) D
ipak Misra, the CJI pre-
sided over the five-judge bench hear-
ing the crucial Aadhaar case in the
Supreme Court. Misra and the other
four judges heard arguments on April
24 as to why the Unique Identification
Authority of India—mandated to issue
Aadhaar numbers to all residents of
the country—needs to collect and
retain technical metadata.
Misra had made it a point to attend
court on April 23 too. Within minutes of
Naidu rejecting the impeachment mot
ion, the CJI had made his way to Court
No. 1 to hear routine cases and some
public interest litigations. Now, unless
the Opposition approaches the Supreme
Court to appeal against Naidu’s decision
and the court admits it too, Misra will
continue hearing matters until he retires
on October 2. As of now, it seems Misra
may just have an uninterrupted run since
the Opposition is divided over appealing
the rejection of the impeachment motion.
Until the Opposition makes up its collec
tive mind about the appeal, Misra is
expected to go about his work as usual.
Misra surely has a busy calendar, and
important cases to hear, before he hangs
his well-polished black boots. He is sched
uled to hear the Ayodhya Ram Janmabh
oomi case on April 27, when a three-judge
bench will hear arguments from both the
sides to decide whether the case should
be transferred to a bigger five-judge con
stitution bench. The plea to transfer the
case to a bigger bench was made by senior
lawyer Rajeev Dhawan on April 7, the last
date of hearing. Dhawan had asked that if
five-judge benches heard cases like wom
en’s entry into temples and polygamy,
why couldn’t it not be done with the Ayo
dhya case as well.
Presently, a three-judge bench headed
by the CJI is hearing 13 appeals filed
against the 2010 judgment of the Alla
22 OUTLOOK 7 May 2018