At a time when the gap between the judiciary and the executive is widening, Justice BR Gavai, who was sworn in as the country's top-ranking judicial officer on Wednesday, will face several pressing questions to begin with -- from setting a timeline for the Governor and President’s assent to bills, to the use of the Supreme Court’s extraordinary powers under Article 142 to deliver complete justice.
The newly sworn-in Chief Justice of India (CJI), BR Gavai, faces his first challenge in addressing the President's question on whether the Supreme Court can set a timeline for governors and the President, as observed by a two-judge bench in a landmark judgment in the Tamil Nadu Governor case.
The President has used the powers conferred under Article 143 of the Constitution to seek advice on the Supreme Court's decision in the landmark Tamil Nadu governor judgement, with President Droupadi Murmu asking the top court: How can Supreme Court put a timeline when the Constitution does not?"
Chief Justice of India Gavai will now be required to set up a Constitution bench -- comprising five or more judges -- to provide an opinion to the 14 questions posed by President Droupadi Murmu.
List of questions that were posed by President Murmu on Tuesday, day before Chief Justice of India Gavai took oath. Listed below are a few of the questions referred to the Supreme Court:
How can the Supreme Court substitute the President /Governor's powers under the Constitution with its own powers under Article 142?
Are states misusing the "plenary power" of the Supreme Court against Center?
How can a timeline be prescribed for the President and Governor?
How are the decisions of the Governor under article 200 justiciable?
Last month, the Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, questioned the Supreme Court's use of its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to set a deadline for both the President and the Governor, and cleared 10 bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly without the Executive's nod, calling it a case of "judicial overreach."
Source: India Today
