Aadhaar pleas to be heard from Jan. 17
NEW DELHI , JANUARY 13, 2018 22:52 IST
Line-up ready for Constitution Bench
A series of public interest cases, led by a batch of 27 petitions challenging the Aadhaar scheme, will be heard back-to-back by a fivejudge Constitution Bench from January 17.
A notice issued by the Supreme Court on Friday gave the line-up of cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench, starting with the Aadhaar cases, then a petition by Kerala resident Joseph Shine challenging the commodification of women by the penal law of adultery in the Indian Penal Code, followed by the restriction on the entry of women to the famed Sabarimala temple.
Though the notice does not mention the composition of the judges on the Bench, the Aadhaar petitions were previously heard by a five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.
After the Sabarimala case, the next matter listed before the Constitution Bench is the much-awaited challenge to the constitutionality of Section 377 IPC which criminalises homosexuality.
This would be followed by a petition filed by Goolrokh M. Gupta challenging the Parsi community’s practice of refusing a woman's right to retain her religious identity if she chooses to marry outside her faith.
Another important matter listed for hearing before the Constitution Bench is whether reasons for disqualification of Members of Parliament can be beyond those stated in Article 102 (a) to (d) of the Constitution.