New SC bench to hear Memon's plea

Chief Justice of India, Justice H.L. Dattu, will constitute a new bench on Wednesday that will hear 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast convict Yakub Memon's plea seeking stay of his execution slated for July 30 and quashing of death warrant on the grounds that it was issued even before he could exhaust his legal remedies.

Chief Justice Dattu said "I will constitute a bench tomorrow" as Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi informed the bench about the split verdict earlier in the day, with common order asking the court registry to place before the chief justice for reference the matter to be listed before an appropriate bench.

Senior counsel Raju Ramachandran, appearing for Yakub Memon, urged Chief Justice Dattu to grant stay of execution of Memon slated for Thursday.

However, the court did not pass any order on its plea for stay of execution.

Earlier on Tuesday, Supreme Court judges Anil R. Dave and Kurien Joseph took differing stands on Memon's plea challenging his death penalty and urged the chief justice to set up "an appropriate bench" to hear the case.

Recounting the sequence of the court proceedings from 1993 till the curative petition was dismissed on July 21, 2015, Justice Dave dismissed Memon's plea.

But Justice Kurien found fault with the composition of the bench which heard the curative petition, and stayed the operation of the death warrant issued by the TADA court on April 30.

Justice Kurien said the case should be re-considered after constituting a bench in accordance with Supreme Court rules. The judges then referred the matter to Chief Justice H.L. Dattu.