This year was marked by several landmark Supreme Court verdicts, as the apex court adjudicated on the contentious and long-term issues of same-sex marriage and Article 370, as well as on the Maharashtra political crisis.On the very first working day of 2023, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the 2016 demonetisation scheme. The year neared its end with another landmark verdict of the court that upheld the 2019 decision by the Narendra Modi government, which revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.While Justices S Abdul Nazeer, B R Gavai, A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian upheld the Government’s move, Justice B V Nagarathna disagreed with the “reasoning and conclusions” in the majority judgment. The bench held that the November 8, 2016, notification withdrawing the legal tender of these notes “does not suffer from any flaws in the decision-making process”.The majority ruling stated: “Upon perusal of the material on record, we are of the considered view that the Central Board had taken into consideration the relevant factors while recommending withdrawal of legal tender of bank notes in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 of existing and any older series in circulation. Similarly, all the relevant factors were placed for consideration before the Cabinet when it took the decision to demonetise.
”SC on CEC, EC appointment: Stating that “core values of the Constitution, including democracy, and Rule of Law, are being undermined”, the Supreme Court on March 2 ordered that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) shall be appointed on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India.Ruling on petitions seeking an independent mechanism to appoint the CEC and ECs, a five-judge Constitution Bench presided by Justice K M Joseph said where no Leader of Opposition is available, the committee will include the leader of the largest Opposition party in Lok Sabha in terms of numerical strengthThe bench, also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar, made it clear that “this will be subject to any law to be made by Parliament”.SC allows divorce on grounds of ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage’: The Supreme Court on April 30 held that it could grant divorce on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown” of marriage by invoking its special powers under Article 32 of the Constitution.
A Constitution Bench, comprising Justices S K Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, A S Oka, Vikram Nath, and J K Maheshwari, said such an exercise of power “will not contravene the principles of public policy”. The court also held that it could waive the six-month waiting period, which is mandatory before a couple can approach a court seeking divorce by mutual consent, subject to conditions.
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