Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Supreme Court Advocates-On-Record ... vs Union Of India on 7 April, 2015
NON-REPORTABLE
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.13 OF 2015
SUPREME COURT ADVOCATES-ON-RECORD
ASSOCIATION AND ANR. … PETITIONERS
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA … RESPONDENT
WITH
WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NOS.14, 18, 23, 24,70, 83,
108 & 124 OF 2015
WITH
TRANSFER PETITION (CIVIL) NO.391 OF 2015
O R D E R
ANIL R. DAVE, J.
1. In this group of petitions, validity of the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as `the Act’) has been challenged. The challenge is on the ground that by virtue of the aforestated amendment and enactment of the Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Sarita Purohit Act, basic structure of the Constitution of India has Date: 2015.04.08 16:12:36 IST Reason: 1 been altered and therefore, they should be set aside.
2. We have heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and the parties appearing in-person at length.
3. It has been mainly submitted for the petitioners that all these petitions should be referred to a Bench of Five Judges as per the provisions of Article 145(3) of the Constitution of India for the reason that substantial questions of law with regard to interpretation of the Constitution of India are involved in these petitions. It has been further submitted that till all these petitions are finally disposed of, by way of an interim relief it should be directed that the Act should not be brought into force and the present system with regard to appointment of Judges should be continued.
4. Sum and substance of the submissions of the counsel opposing the petition is that all these petitions are premature for the reason that the Act has not come into force till today and till the Act comes into force, cause of action can not be said to have arisen. In the circumstances, according to the learned counsel, the petitions should be rejected.
5. The learned counsel as well as parties in-person have 2 relied upon several judgments to substantiate their cases.
6. Looking at the facts of the case, we are of the view that these petitions involve substantial questions of law as to the interpretation of the Constitution of India and therefore, we direct the Registry to place all the matters of this group before Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India so that they can be placed before a larger Bench for its consideration.
7. As we are not deciding the cases on merits, we do not think it appropriate to discuss the submissions made by the learned counsel and the parties in-person.
8. It would be open to the petitioners to make a prayer for interim relief before the larger bench as we do not think it appropriate to grant any interim relief at this stage.
………………………………………J. (ANIL R. DAVE) ………………………………………J. (J. CHELAMESWAR) ………………………………………J. (MADAN B. LOKUR) NEW DELHI, APRIL 07, 2015.
3 ITEM NOS.1A,1D,1E & 1F COURT NO.3 SECTION X (For Judgment) S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Item No.1A : Writ Petition (C) No.13/2015 SUPREME COURT ADVOCATES-ON-RECORD ASSN. AND ANR. Petitioner(s) VERSUS UNION OF INDIA Respondent(s)
WITH W.P.(C)Nos.23,70,83,108,124 of 2015 & T.P.(C)No.391/2015 Item No.1D :
W.P.(C)No.14/2015
Item No.1E : W.P.(C)No.18/2015
Item No.1F :W.P.(C)No.24/2015
Date : 07/04/2015 These petitions were called on for pronouncement of Judgment.
For Petitioner(s) WP(C)No.13 Mr. Surya Kant,Adv.
WP(C)No.23 Mr. Dinesh Kumar Garg,Adv.
WP(C)No.70 Mr. Joseph Aristotle S.,Adv.
WP(C)No.83 Mr. Prashant Bhushan,Adv.
T.P.(C)No.391 Mr. P.S. Narasimha,ASG Ms. Madhavi Divan,Adv.
Mr. Nivesh Rastogi,Adv.
Mr. B.V. Balaram Das,Adv.
WP(C)No.108 Mr. Anil B. Divan,Sr.Adv.
Mr. K.N. Bhat,Sr.Adv.
Mr. R.K.P. Shankar Das,Sr.Adv. Mr. Prasant Kumar,Adv.
Ms. Anindita Pujari,Adv.
Mr. Jitendra Mohapatra,Adv. Mr. Syed Rehan,Adv.4
WP(C)No.124 Mr. Rabin Majumder,Adv.
WP(C)No.14 In-person
WP(C)No.18 In-person
WP(C)No.24 In-person
For Respondent(s)
Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh,Adv.
Mr. Tushar Bakshi,Adv.
Mr. Devashish Bharuka,Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Hon'ble Mr. Justice Anil R. Dave pronounced Non-Reportable judgment of the Bench comprising His Lordship, Hon'ble Mr. Justice J. Chelameswar and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Madan B. Lokur.
The Registry to place all the matters of this group before Hon'ble the Chief Justice of India so that they can be placed before a larger Bench for consideration in terms of the signed Non-Reportable Judgment.
(Sarita Purohit) (Sneh Bala Mehra) Court Master Assistant Registrar (Signed Non-Reportable Judgment is placed on the file) 5