SC to reopen today, will hear key cases including Rafale, Ayodhya

New Delhi: After a six-week summer vacation, the Supreme Court will reopen on Monday. There is a likelihood that verdicts reserved in Rafale case, the Sabarimala case and bringing the office of the Chief Justice of India under right to information act, would be pronounced soon.

The most keenly awaited one is the Rafale case. A bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on May 10 had concluded it’s hearing on petitions asking for a review of the Court’s December 14 verdict. The petitions were filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan and former union ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha who relied upon documents leaked by the media to assert that the government had suppressed crucial material information regarding the deal during the earlier round of litigation.

Review petitions in the Sabarimala case also await the final decision of the court. It had reserved it’s verdict on the pleas on February 6.

The top court is also expected to deliver a verdict on the crucial question of whether the right to information act is applicable to the office of the CJI’s.

Besides, the court will also take up some crucial matters for hearing, including the one related to sexual harassment allegations against the CJI.

The top court will so take up a batch of petitions on the constitutional validity of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Petitioners want the “controversial” provision to be held invalid as it restricts parliament’s powers to frame laws for the state.