The year which is ending today saw many changes in working style due to Covid situations. Most affected were all the courts including SC.
Judges and lawyers of SC, from the Mid Jan 2020 started worrying about the milling crowds in the court rooms, obstructing even arguing counsel from reaching the well.
But within 3 months everything changed, the same SC which was always crowded started looking like Ghost building. Justice had become virtual. Last year The SC passed about 1300 judgements, but this year only 800 judgements could be delivered. But this year SC had become more like a court of appeal rather than the Constitutional court. Property suits, tenancy, appointments and criminal appeals were the major cases which SC judges heard and gave their judgement.
There were some judgements which can be considered as path breaking
- The telecom companies had a tough time when they were told to pay Adjusted Gross Revenue dues worth Rs 1.47 lakh Cr, immediately. Even the review petition was also rejected by SC judges and insisted that payment should be made by tonight. Later it was changed, and telecom companies were allowed to pay in instalments.
- Case like Tata vs Mistry, Sahara vs SEBI, extradition of Vijay Mallaya also appeared in SC, few times.
- The SC quashed the RBI order restricting crypto currency.
The constitution bench, delivered only 8 judgements like
- SC declared that Co op Banks are covered by Securities act.
- Central govt has complete authority to set the statutory minimum prices for sugarcane.
Sensitive cases like validity of the Scrapping of Article 370, the Citizenship act, and state challenging perceived assault on federalism. Instead SC’s constitutional bench spent too much time on bail applications, instead of cases relating to constitution.
In a decisive judgement in 1977, which said “ Bail is the rule rule, jail exceptional”. Now if you go by statistics there are about 1.90+ bail applications pending in various courts.
The appeal made on behalf of Arnab Goswami was even heard on holiday, with 55 page judgement divided into 11 sections. One section was even titled ‘Human liberty and role of courts’. There was even reference made like ‘ human liberty is not the gift of a few’.
Another issue which took the time and agitated the SC as well as educated class was its contempt jurisdiction. It has been reported that the most democratic countries have abandon the same. But in India, the judges and even Attorney General take this offence seriously, even when humourous comments are made against judiciary and politicians. The thin line between freedom of expression and contempt has become quite plastic, various judges interpret in their own way.
The 1 rupee fine on activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan actually did not yield any deterrent, instead it turned counter productive. Now stand up comedians are also facing trials. But it is also a fact some people on the pretext of freedom of speech will speak utter rubbish even against any one. There have been increase in defamation cases also.
There is one thing more, some pseudo secular and intellectual are always commenting against present NDA govt and its PM. They find every law passed by this govt as anti democratic, taking away freedom of expressions and liberty. These type of criticism against govt and judiciary are not tolerated by judges. These type of people say judiciary has surrendered to govt.
There was comment and protests against Rajya Sabha seat being given to former Chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. It was openly said that the seat was given to him because he gave favourable judgement to Hindus in Ram Janam Bhoomi/Babri Masjid case. But these people forget that this judgement was given by the SC bench consisting of many judges and some recorded their views, which was not in favour of this judgement. In the end majority decision prevailed. Why they forget even before he became CJI, Rajan Gogoi was the leader of the SC judges who led the agitation against then CJI for allotment of various cases to different judges. That time Justice Gogoi was their hero, but as soon as Ram Janam Bhoomi case verdict was delivered, he turned villain.
Another ex judge Arun Mishra had also strained relationship with bar, when he commented that ‘ PM Modi is a versatile genius.
One more thing, there were many writ petitions filed in SC in the year 2020, some of them were
- There was a writ petition which sought shorter, easy to read judgements.
- One demanded Bharat Ratna for Mahatma Gandhi
- A member of Christian sect in Kerala wants freedom from mandatory confessions of sin before a priest.
Petitions like these show, that that doors of SC are wide open, which only means troubled days ahead for SC, which indirectly means that SC will spend less time on dealing with constitutional matter which is it’s prime responsibility.
Waiting for your views/comments/feed backs.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
31st December 2020.
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY 2021.