For the past few years, the Supreme Court has been criticised for failing to hear controversial political cases. That seems to be changing now with the swearing-in of Uday Umesh Lalit as the new chief justice of India on August 27.
Four weeks into Lalit’s tenure, the top court has started listing a host of frozen cases. These include the legality of reservations for economically weaker sections, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, criticised for introducing religion as a criterion for Indian citizenship as well as the the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a draconion terror legislation that makes bail virtually impossible.
The outcome of these cases is still to be seen. But by simply not listing cases, the Supreme Court was, in effect, helping the Union government, as severa; commentators had pointed out. That’s because a lack of decision allowed the government’s actions to become “fait accomplis”, even if under a legal cloud.
Cold storage cases
On Lalit’s very first working day as chief justice, on August 29, a case challenging the legality of the hijab ban in Karnataka was listed. Starting March 16, several petitions had been filed challenging a Karnataka High Court judgement that upheld a controversial order passed by the BJP ruled-Karnataka government effectively banning the Islamic scarf in education institutes.
However, for…
