AFTER BREAK, SC TO TAKE UP AYODHYA, OTHER KEY CASES

NEWDELHI:REOPENING on Wednesday after a two-week Christmasand-new-year break, the Supreme Court of India will be dealing with a bunch of urgent cases such as the government of India’s application in the Rafale case (seeking some corrections in the judgement), the BJP’S petition seeking permission to hold a Rath Yatra in the state of West Bengal, and the Ram Janambhoomi - Babri Masjid title dispute. Most of these cases have significant political implications.

According to the list of business released by the Supreme Court registry, the Ram Janambhoomi matter, where the court will take up for hearing a bunch of petitions by Muslim and Hindu religious bodies, is fixed for January 4, but no specific dates have been given for hearing in the other cases.

The Ram Janamboomi case is listed before the bench of Chief Justice of India Rajan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul. On Friday, the court is likely to decide if the matter will be heard by a bench of two judges or three judges. Several Bharatiya Janata Party affiliates, including its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have asked for a legislation to facilitate the building of a Ram temple at the disputed site.

In the Rafale case, the Defence ministry has filed an application in the top court seeking correction in the December 14 judgment.

The mistake in the Rafale judgment says that the Comptroller and Auditor general of India, or CAG, the government’s auditor, submitted a report to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on the deal, and that redacted portions of the report are available in the public domain.

This error was picked up by some of the petitioners as well as opposition parties that claimed the government misled the court. The defence ministry filed an application in the top court, saying that the SC seems to have misunderstood its original submission. According to the ministry, part of the submission read: “The Government has already shared the pricing details with the CAG. The report of the CAG is examined by the PAC. Only a redacted version of the report is placed before the Parliament and in public domain”.

The court read this to mean this process has already happened with respect to the deal, the government said.