Supreme Court slams Central government for approaching CJI with oral request to recall order of another bench

Every bench of the top court represents the Supreme Court and no intra-court appeals can be filed by bypassing any of the Supreme Court benches, a Division Bench of the apex court said today..Justices BV Nagarathna and Hima Kohli made the observation while pulling up the Central government for approaching the Chief Justice of India (CJI) with an oral request to recall an earlier order passed by the two judges to allow the termination of a 26-week pregnancy. .Notably, the government had also not filed a formal application when the oral mentioning was made before the CJI yesterday..Taking exception to such conduct, Justice Nagarathna verbally remarked,"In the absence of any application being filed or pleadings, how can you seek that a three-judge bench hear an intra-court appeal? Without filing a recall application you moved the honourable Chief Justice of India? I certainly do not support this. Every bench here is the Supreme Court...There is a way to overturn a court order, not like this. Why after the order was passed? It is not like we did not hear you. She (the pregnant woman) is under more stress now because of all this.".Justice Kohli pointed out that the Central government could have filed a formal application to urgently re-hear the matter instead of making an oral request before the CJI. The judges also pointed out that that their Bench could have sat again yesterday itself if such an application were filed."What my sister is saying only in the context that you could have moved an application with the same alacrity. The woman's background...one day would not have mattered. Maybe the CJI would have constituted a bench yesterday only (if you filed)," Justice Kohli said. .Appearing for the Central government, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati informed the Bench that an email was received yesterday in which a doctor had advised against the abortion (which had been permitted the day before)."My lords till 4 (pm), I was in a part heard. Then my lords were not sitting in this combination. So, I had to move the CJI in mentioning since my lords had allowed the termination," she explained. .The Court, however, maintained that it still had reservations over how the mentioning took place, particularly since it was done without any written pleadings. Justice Kohli observed that the doctor's email ought to have been conveyed to the Bench."Why this behaviour only after our order? Why were they not candid earlier and hedging? Which court wants to stop a foetus with a heartbeat? Certainly not us, for heaven's sake," she remarked. .The Bench was hearing a plea to medically terminate the third pregnancy of a married woman. The pregnancy had crossed the legally permissible limit of 24 weeks for abortions under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 (MTP Act).Last week, the Court had ordered that she be medically examined to discern whether the abortion ought to be allowed. On October 9, the Bench allowed the abortion plea after factoring in the woman's poor mental condition..The Bench eventually passed a split verdict in the matter today. Justice Kohli was not in favour of abortion, while Justice Nagarathna opined that the view of the pregnant woman should be respected despite objections that the foetus would be born alive.The matter was, therefore, ultimately referred to a larger bench."My judicial conscience does not allow me to let it (termination) continue, whereas my sister judge says it should be. We will refer to a larger bench," Justice Kohli said..[Read order]