SC refers 14 cases to Constitution Bench

In a rare instance, the Supreme Court, at one go, referred as many as 14 distinct cases “involving questions of law” to be heard by the Constitution Bench. The petitions, some of which have been pending with the apex court for a decade, touch upon a wide array of issues, ranging from whether the high courts have jurisdiction to order a CBI probe without the concurrence of the state government to whether it is lawful to allow the appointment of ‘tainted’ persons as MPs or MLAs.

The 14 cases referred by a Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal will now be considered by a larger Bench of five or more judges. The Bench asked the counsels appearing in these matters to frame “questions of law” and furnish them before the court by October 1. It further indicated that the Constitution Bench would be ready to examine the cases by November 11.

What many petitions have in common is their politically sensitive nature. For example, Manoj Narula, who filed his PIL in 2005, challenged the inclusion of chargesheeted ministers in the Cabinet, while another batch of petitions led by former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar had questioned the appointments of politically inclined persons as Governor,s who are constitutionally expected to be free of any political affiliations.

The Constitution Bench to be set up will also have to deal with a batch of petitions — filed by Prof Bhim Singh and the NGO, Common Cause — that have urged the court to scrutinise the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.