Can dissolve marriage on ground of 'irretrievable breakdown', says SC

From hearing the plea on dissolving marriages to demolition drive in Delhi, here are some important cases that were heard today

The Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution bench held that it can dissolve a marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage by invoking special power granted to it under Article 143 of the Constitution and that the mandatory waiting period of six months for divorce through mutual consent can be dispensed with subject to conditions. Article 142 of the Constitution deals with the enforcement of decrees and orders of the apex court to do “complete justice” in any matter pending before it. “We have…. held that it is possible for this court to dissolve the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage,” the bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, AS Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari, said. The Supreme Court delivered the verdict on a batch of petitions relating to the exercise of its vast powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve broken-down marriages between consenting couples without referring them to family courts for protracted judicial proceedings to get the decree of separation.

The SC on Monday also said that contesting parties cannot directly approach it and seek dissolution of marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown by filing a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

Along with this, the Supreme Court of India also heard the following important cases on Monday:

• The SC held that an accused cannot claim any indefeasible right of being released on default bail on the ground that the charge sheet filed within time period does not have valid sanction of authority.
• SC deferred hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the sedition law after the Centre said it is at an advanced stage of consultation on reexamining the colonial-era penal provision.
• SC refused to stay a demolition drive to remove encroachment from the Tughlakabad area in South Delhi.
• SC agreed to hear on May 8 a plea challenging the Bihar government's decision to prematurely release former MP Anand Mohan who was serving life term in the 1994 murder case of then Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah.
• SC sought the stand of the Uttar Pradesh government on a plea by Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, son of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, against the Allahabad High Court decision refusing to stay his conviction in a 15-year-old criminal case that led to his disqualification as an MLA.
• SC extended its interim stay on proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case registered against him for allegedly making objectionable remarks against the BJP and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 parliamentary election campaign.  

Apart from these, the Delhi High Court also heard some important cases, which include:

• PIL came up for hearing before HC for protection of interest of students enrolled with schools located on public land which have been mortgaged and may be auctioned by banks over non-payment of loan.
• HC allowed a minor girl to approach a hospital here to for medical termination of pregnancy at 11 weeks of gestation and underlined her privacy be maintained in the process by the doctors and police.
• HC appointed Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and former hockey player M M Somaya to a committee overseeing the disbursement of funds to sports federations for selecting teams to represent the country in the Asian Games.
• HC asked the Indian Air Force and Directorate of Intelligence to consider whether a book by a retired air force officer can be published after certain "classified" content is removed from it.