The Supreme Court of India today closed for the summer vacation. The court will now reopen on June 29, after a vacation of nearly six weeks..Three different vacation Benches will be sitting during this period – first one from May 16 to May 29, second from May 30 to June 12 and a third from June 13 to June 28..In addition to those cases listed before the vacation Benches, some cases will be heard during the summer vacation..These include the Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case which has been listed for June 1 and the case pertaining to two finger test and marital rape which has been posted for May 18..The final day before the vacation was one of the most eventful one with four new judges assuming office. Justices DY Chandruchud, Ashok Bhushan, AM Khanwilkar and L Nageswara Rao were sworn in today taking the strength of Supreme Court judges to 29..Lawyers thronged the Chief Justice’ court at 10.30 am to witness the swearing in. Subsequently, the four new judges sat in the court rooms 1 to 4..At 11.15 am, a Bench presided by Justice Dipak Misra delivered the judgment on Constitutionality of criminal defamation provisions..The provisions were upheld in a 268-page judgment..Even after the judgment was delivered, court room 4 remained crowded, with many lawyers streaming in to catch a glimpse of Justice L Nageswara Rao on the Bench..Excited remarks of, “He is sitting here, he is sitting here” were frequently heard..Most importantly, after the judgment was pronounced, the rush outside court room 4 brought to fore the grave issue of space constraint and crowd management in Supreme Court..The problem of over crowding has been plaguing the apex court for quite some time now though no drastic measures have been taken. One suggestion is to divert people going to the courts at the extreme back through the left side of the court building, and through the open grounds..Whether any changes would be made, we will have to wait and watch!.Image courtesy.Justice AM Khanwilkar.Justice DY Chandrachud.Justice Ashok Bhushan
The Supreme Court of India today closed for the summer vacation. The court will now reopen on June 29, after a vacation of nearly six weeks..Three different vacation Benches will be sitting during this period – first one from May 16 to May 29, second from May 30 to June 12 and a third from June 13 to June 28..In addition to those cases listed before the vacation Benches, some cases will be heard during the summer vacation..These include the Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case which has been listed for June 1 and the case pertaining to two finger test and marital rape which has been posted for May 18..The final day before the vacation was one of the most eventful one with four new judges assuming office. Justices DY Chandruchud, Ashok Bhushan, AM Khanwilkar and L Nageswara Rao were sworn in today taking the strength of Supreme Court judges to 29..Lawyers thronged the Chief Justice’ court at 10.30 am to witness the swearing in. Subsequently, the four new judges sat in the court rooms 1 to 4..At 11.15 am, a Bench presided by Justice Dipak Misra delivered the judgment on Constitutionality of criminal defamation provisions..The provisions were upheld in a 268-page judgment..Even after the judgment was delivered, court room 4 remained crowded, with many lawyers streaming in to catch a glimpse of Justice L Nageswara Rao on the Bench..Excited remarks of, “He is sitting here, he is sitting here” were frequently heard..Most importantly, after the judgment was pronounced, the rush outside court room 4 brought to fore the grave issue of space constraint and crowd management in Supreme Court..The problem of over crowding has been plaguing the apex court for quite some time now though no drastic measures have been taken. One suggestion is to divert people going to the courts at the extreme back through the left side of the court building, and through the open grounds..Whether any changes would be made, we will have to wait and watch!.Image courtesy.Justice AM Khanwilkar.Justice DY Chandrachud.Justice Ashok Bhushan
