Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Association For Democratic Reforms vs Union Of India Cabinet Secretary on 31 January, 2023
Author: Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
Bench: Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha
WPC 333/2015
1
ITEM NO.24 COURT NO.1 SECTION PIL-W
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Writ Petition (Civil) No.333/2015
ASSOCIATION FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORMS & ANR. Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA CABINET SECRETARY & ORS. Respondent(s)
(With IA No.140900/2021 - ADDITION/DELETION/MODIFICATION PARTIES)
WITH W.P.(C) No.408/2019 (PIL-W)
W.P.(C) No.880/2017 (PIL-W)
(With IA No.106839/2018 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION, IA No.
59321/2019 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/ FACTS/
ANNEXURES and IA No.40115/2019 - STAY APPLICATION)
W.P.(C) No.59/2018 (X)
(With IA No.45810/2019 - STAY APPLICATION)
W.P.(C) No.434/2018 (PIL-W)
W.P.(C) No.975/2022 (PIL-W)
(With IA No.174158/2022-PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/
FACTS/ANNEXURES)
W.P.(C) No.1132/2022 (PIL-W)
Date : 31-01-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Dushyant Dave, Sr. Adv.
WPC 333/2015, Ms. Neha Rathi, Adv.
WPC 880/2017 & Mr. Prashant Bhushan, AOR
WPC 434/2018
Signature Not Verified
Digitally signed by
CHETAN KUMAR
Date: 2023.02.02
15:00:16 IST
Reason:
WPC 333/2015
2
WPC 408/2019 Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR
WPC 59/2018 Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR
WPC 975/2022 Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, AOR
Mr. Varun Thakur, Adv.
WPC 1132/2022 Mr. Javedur Rahman, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. R Venkatramani, AG
Mr. Tushar Mehta, SG
Mr. Ankur Talwar, Adv.
Mrs. Seema Bengani, Adv.
Mrs. Shradha Deshmukh, Adv.
Mr. Shyam Gopal, Adv.
Mr. Chinmayee Chandra, Adv.
Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasiya, Adv.
Mr. Anand Venkatramani, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Kumar Pandey, Adv.
Ms. Vijay Lakshmi Venkatramani, Adv.
Mr. Vinayak Mehrotra, Adv.
Ms. Manshi Sood, Adv.
Mr. Sonali Jain, Adv.
Mr. Raman Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Chitvan Singhal, Adv.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR
Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR
Mr. Arvind Kumar Gupta, AOR
Mr. Maninder Singh, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Amit Sharma, AOR
Mr. Dipesh Sinha, Adv.
Ms. Pallavi Barua, Adv.
Ms. Sakshi Upadhayya, Adv.
Ms. Aparna Singh, Adv.
Ms. Aprna Singh, Adv.
WPC 333/2015
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Mr. P.V. Dinesh, AOR
Mr. Rahul Raj Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Bineesh K, Adv.
Mr. B. K. Pal, AOR
Ms. Shefali Mitra, Adv.
Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AOR
Mr. Aviral Kashyap, AOR
Ms. Gitanjali Tripathy, Adv.
Mr. Ashish Kumar Sinha, Adv.
Applicant-in-person
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1 This batch of petitions involves three distinct issues:
(i) A challenge to the Electoral Bonds Scheme;
(ii) Whether political parties should be brought within the purview of the Right to Information Act 2005; and
(iii) A challenge to the amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 through the Finance Acts of 2016 and 2018.
2 Hence, the petitions in the present batch are bifurcated with reference to the above three challenges as tabulated below:
Petitions challenging the Electoral Bonds Scheme WP (C) No 880/2017 Notice was issued by this Hon’ble Court on
3.10.2017 WP (C) No 59/2018 Notice was issued by this Hon’ble Court on 2.02.2018 WPC 333/2015 4 WP (C) No 1132/2022 Notice was issued by this Hon’ble Court on 9.01.2023 Fresh Matter WP (C) No 975/2022 Notice has not been issued.
Petitions for bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act 2005 WP (C) No 333/2015 Notice was issued by this Hon’ble Court on 30.06.2016 WP (C) No 408/2019 Notice was issued by this Hon’ble Court on 15.04.2019 Petition challenging the amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 through the Finance Acts 2016 and 2018 WP (C) No 434/2018 Notice was issued by this Hon’ble Court on 2.07.2018 3 The three sets of petitions need to be heard separately and de-linked for that purpose.
4 Notice shall issue in Writ Petition (C) 975 of 2022. In the event that the Union of India seeks to file a counter affidavit, that shall be done within a period of two weeks.
5 The Union government has filed a counter affidavit in Writ Petition (C) No 880 of 2017 and Writ Petition (C) No 59 of 2018.
6 The Attorney General for India submits that a copy of Writ Petition (C) No 1132 of 2022 may be served on counsel instructing him so that, if necessary, a supplementary counter affidavit can be filed to deal with any issue which has not already been dealt with in the companion writ petitions. The same course of action shall be followed as regards Writ Petition (C) No 975 of 2022.
WPC 333/2015 57 In respect of the second set of petitions noted above, a counter affidavit has already been filed in Writ Petition (C) No 333 of 2015.
8 In the event that the Union of India seeks to file a counter affidavit in Writ Petition (C) No 408 of 2019, to deal with any additional issues which have been raised in that petition, this shall be done within a period of two weeks.
9 On the third set of petitions challenging the amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 2010 through the Finance Acts of 2016 and 2018 , notice was issued by this Court on 2 July 2018.
10 A last and final opportunity is granted to the Union of India to file its counter affidavit by the end of February 2023, in the third set.
11 The dates for the listing of three batches of petitions are indicated below:
(i) WP (C) No 880/2017, WP (C) 59/2018 21 March 2023 WP (C) No 1132/2022 & WP (C) 975/2022
(ii) WP (C) No 333/2015 & WP (C) No 408/2019 11 April 2023
(iii) WP (C) No 434/2018 25 April 2023
12 Counsel appearing on behalf of the contesting parties shall file written submissions in each batch of petitions at least a week before the next date of hearing and shall file soft copies with the Court Masters.
(CHETAN KUMAR) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
A.R.-cum-P.S. Assistant Registrar