Speed is of the essence. But, considering the way cases pile up in Indian courts, and crores of them, a safe guess is that this norm was not applicable to the Indian judiciary. However, recent weeks were one of hyper activity at the Supreme Court. The Ayodhya verdict, which remained in cold storage for decades before 2010 and past the appeals against a high court verdict later, has been delivered a week ago by the apex court, and there is relief that a vexatious issue has been put at rest.
Close on its heels, the apex court on Thursday came up with an order on another vexatious issue relating to Sabarimala in which faith and aspects of women rights got interlinked. The court referred the matter to a larger Constitution bench, and also got it clubbed with two other petitions from Muslim and Parsi women relating to their right to entry to places of worship. The court also refused to step back on its earlier verdict on Sabarimala, in which a Constitution bench had ruled last year that women of all ages were free to go and worship in Sabarimala. As per an existing practice, women in their menstrual age – between ages 15 and 50 – could not enter Sabarimala where the deity of Lord Ayyappa was installed in a celibate form.
Notably, in another verdict this week, the apex court brought the post of Chief Justice of India into the ambit of the Right to Information Act; meaning more transparency in the functioning of the CJI and apex court.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi is set to retire in two days’ time. Rather than leaving cases half way through their consideration, he made sure that major cases were attended to before he left office. Hence came the verdict on the Rafale defence deal, on which review petitions were dismissed and the court stuck to its earlier stand that there was no pressing need for the SC to intervene. The court also disposed of a petition against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in this connection, in which he had made some harsh comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi – “Chowkidar Chor Hai” as part of the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign rhetoric. The court asked Gandhi to exercise restraint in future. Disposal of several cases of public interest in a flurry meant that courts can, if they try, expedite the process of justice in this country.