Cauvery row: Centre to submit draft plan
NEWDELHI: Tamil Nadu’s contempt petition against the Centre for not complying with court’s order to devise a mechanism for implementing its judgment in the Cauvery case and the Ramjanmabhoomi-babri Masjid land dispute suit are the two crucial hearings to look out for in the Supreme Court this week.
The Centre is expected to submit its draft scheme outlining how it proposes to follow the court’s February judgment allocating the share to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. During a hearing last week, a bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that what the Centre did was contempt of court.
Another water dispute, between Delhi and Haryana, will also come up for hearing on Wednesday. The Upper Yamuna River Board has to give its suggestions to resolve the differences between the two states over release of water. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has prayed for a direction to Haryana to maintain constant supply of water in the Yamuna as per an earlier SC judgment. DJB said Haryana’s failure to abide has resulted in a lack of adequate drinking water for Delhiites.
A bench led by CJI Misra will also hear the Ram Mandir-babri Masjid title dispute on Tuesday. Lawyers for Muslim parties will continue with their arguments to refer a 1994 SC verdict in the Ayodhya land acquisition case that the place of worship, a mosque, is not integral to Islam to a larger bench of more than five judges.
A special bench of justice AK Goel and justice UU Lalit will also assemble to hear the Centre’s petition asking the court to review its judgment in the SC/ST case, which debarred automatic arrest of an accused booked
under the law meant to protect the members of the community. Diluting the provisions of the law the top court had said the law to protect Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from caste atrocities was being misused as a means for “blackmail”.
The Centre is also expected to inform the steps it has taken to appoint Lokpal. The matter will come up for hearing before a bench headed by justice Ranjan Gogoi, which is hearing a contempt petition against the government for not complying with the SC verdict saying the Centre must nominate the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Cases against real estate firms, Jaypee and Amrapali, will also be heard this week. In Jaypee’s case, the CJI’S bench is expected to order release of ₹750 crore deposited by the company in favour of homebuyers yet to get possession of their houses. The court will also go into the aspect of whether Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL) be liquidated, in the wake of a committee of creditors rejecting the resolution plan to revive the company.