No real headway in clearing old cases
It is deeply regrettable that Chief Justice of India JS Khehar’s well-intentioned attempt to send out a message on the judiciary’s readiness to give up long summer vacation to tackle the problem of mounting pendency of cases has largely proved a non-starter. Out of three Constitution Benches that were supposed to hear important issues of law during the 45-day-long vacation, only one bench, led by Justice Khehar transacted business and made headway. This was on the triple talaq issue on which the judgement has been reserved after six sittings. One bench could not sit even for a day and the third sat for only two days before it decided to pack up. The issue dates back to the time of Chief Justice T S Thakur who often complained of the Central government taking too long to clear the appointment of judges which had provoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suggest that judges could make a sacrifice of their long summer vacations in the interests of speedy disposal of cases so that the huge backlog could be liquidated.
When Justice Khehar took charge as chief justice, he took up the responsibility of curtailing the vacations and set an example by presiding over one such bench. Three benches were appointed and tasked with hearing cases on validity of triple talaq, right to privacy for WhatsApp and Facebook users, and the issue of providing Indian citizenship to children of illegal migrants. By tradition, the summer break in the Supreme Court begins on May 11 and is supposed to end on June 30. The 2013 Supreme Court rules lay down that the period of the summer vacation shall not exceed seven weeks, and the top court is availing it for the entire seven weeks.
Justice Chelameswar was to head the five-judge Constitution Bench to examine challenges to Aadhaar but it is believed that he made it clear much before the vacation set in that he would not be in the country for most part of the break. Subsequently, on March 30, Justice Khehar declared that he had approved three separate Constitution Benches during the vacation to examine issues, which if not heard now, “will not be decided for years.” While the CJI himself led the Bench for adjudicating triple talaq, Justice Dipak Misra was to head the Bench on user’s privacy policy of WhatsApp. The third Bench was to be presided over by Justice Madan B Lokur. The non-availability of lawyers was also a factor in cases not being taken up.