Shillong, April 17: A day before the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench hearing on the issue of giving recognition to the same-sex marriage in India, the Centre asked the court to reject the group of petitions, stating that the decisions on these matters should be left to the wisdom of the elected representatives.
The group of petitions will be heard on April 18 by a five-judge constitution bench presided over by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice P S Narsimha, Justice Hima Kohli, and Justice S Narsimha.
15 applications requesting legal recognition of same-sex marriages have been brought before the court.
In a new application, the Centre said that the court’s petitions reflect urban elite ideas in an effort to gain social approval.
The application by Center stated “A decision by the court in recognising the right of same sex marriage would mean a virtual judicial rewriting of an entire branch of law. The court must refrain from passing such omnibus orders. Proper authority for the same is appropriate legislature. Given the fundamental social origin of these laws, any change in order to be legitimate would have to come from the bottom up and through legislation a change cannot be compelled by judicial fiat and the best judge of the pace of change is the legislature itself”.