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The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre, Election Commission and others on a plea seeking to implement finger and iris biometric identification system at polling stations to prevent duplicate voting. While agreeing to hear the plea, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made clear that the prayer sought in the petition can't be considered for the current state Assembly elections in some states. "However, whether such a recourse deserves to be followed before the next parliamentary election and/or state assembly elections needs to be examined. Issue notice," the bench said. The top court issued notice to the Centre, the poll panel and several other states seeking their responses on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. Upadhyay, who appeared in person, told the bench that the prayer sought in the plea would prevent bribery and proxy voting. The bench observed that it would require major changes in the rules and would incur
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea seeking direction to the Election Commission to implement finger and iris biometric identification system at polling stations to prevent duplicate voting. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made clear that the prayer sought in the plea can't be considered for the current state Assembly elections in some states. "However, whether such a recourse deserves to be followed before the next parliamentary election and/or state assembly elections needs to be examined. Issue notice," the bench said. The top court sought responses from the Centre, the poll panel and several other states on the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay. "The injury to citizens is extremely large as bribery, undue influence, personation, duplicate voting and ghost voting still affects the purity and integrity of the electoral process," the plea submitted.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash a CBI FIR in the land-for-jobs case involving RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members. A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh, however, granted exemption to the 77-year-old former Bihar chief minister from appearance before the trial court during the proceedings. The top court allowed Yadav to raise the issue of the applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case. The Delhi High Court had on March 24 refused to quash a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR in the case involving Yadav and his family members, rejecting the RJD chief's contention that the agency's action was legally unsustainable in the absence of prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The land-for-jobs case is related to Group D appointments made in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during Yadav's tenure as the railways minister between 2004 a
The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea to accord weightage to states' proposal on the exact cost of cultivation while fixing minimum support price (MSP). A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Centre and others, including the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, seeking their response on the plea. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said the plea raises a very important issue related to the farmers in the country. The plea has sought direction to the authorities to ensure complete procurement of all notified crops under the MSP calculated on the basis of the exact cost of cultivation. It has also sought direction to take appropriate steps to ensure complete procurement of crops from all farmers who are desirous of selling their crops at the MSP.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a batch of pleas pertaining to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound West Bengal. As per the apex court's cause list of April 13, the pleas would be heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. On April 10, the top court had agreed to hear on April 13 a fresh plea along with pending ones challenging the freezing of electoral rolls by the Election Commission ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal. The poll panel has frozen and finalised the electoral rolls on April 9 for the assembly seats which are going to polls in the first stage. Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29 and votes will be counted on May 4. The freezing of electoral rolls means that no new person, who has been deleted, can be added to the voters list for this assembly polls. On Monday, the bench would also hear the suo motu case related to the .
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on April 13 a fresh plea along with pending ones challenging the freezing of electoral rolls by the Election Commission ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal. The poll panel has frozen and finalised the electoral rolls on April 9 for the assembly seats which are going to polls in the first stage. Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29 and votes will be counted for all polls on May 4. The freezing of electoral rolls means that no new person, who has been deleted, can be added to the voters list for this assembly polls. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was urged by a lawyer to take up the plea against freezing on an urgent basis. The lawyer said many appeals against deletions from the electoral rolls are still pending and the poll panel has frozen the rolls on April 9. "We will consider the petition on April 13," the CJI ...
Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma, facing impeachment proceedings after wads of burnt currency notes were found at his residence here, has submitted his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu, sources said on Friday. "Your Excellency, While I do not propose to burden your august office with the reasons which have constrained me to submit this missive, it is with deep anguish that I hereby tender my resignation from the office of Judge of the Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, with immediate effect. It has been an honour to serve in this office," the resignation letter sent to the President on April 9 said. Justice Varma was repatriated from the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court after burnt wads of currency notes were found at his official residence in New Delhi on March 14 last year.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to stop caste Census, and slammed the petitioner for the language used in the PIL. "'Aapne apne petition me badtameezi ki bhasa likhi hai. Aapne kisse apna petition likhwaya hai' (You have written indecent language in your petition. Who has written your petition?)," a visibly angry Chief Justice Surya Kant told the petitioner, who was appearing in person. "Aap kahan se aisi bhasa likhte ho petition me (From where you write such language in your petition)," the CJI, who was heading the bench which also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, told the petitioner. The bench dismissed the plea, which also sought a direction to the Centre to formulate policies to provide economic incentives to families with a single child. On February 2, the top court had refused to entertain a separate PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify and verify the caste data of citizens in th
The Supreme Court has voiced grave concern over rising cases of child trafficking, saying gangs are operating across the country and if States and Union territories do not take immediate action, thing will go beyond control. The court said only the state government and its home department can act vigilantly in this regard. "As a court we can monitor, but ultimately the action has to be on the part of the state government, the police, and other agencies. Therefore, this is our humble request", a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan said during the hearing of a plea on Wednesday. The bench was irked over the "lackadaisical" approach of several states and UTs in implementing a 2025 judgment aimed at dismantling organised trafficking networks. Justice Viswanathan said the retrieval of children in some cases proves the problem can be tackled, but it requires a level of political and administrative will which is lacking at present. The verdict, delivered on April 1
The NCERT has reconstituted its curriculum committee after being rapped by the Supreme Court over a section on "Corruption in Judiciary" in the now-withdrawn Class 8 Social Science textbook, officials said on Wednesday. The high-powered, 20-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) includes IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti; Indian Council of Historical Research Chairman Raghuvendra Tanwar; former Vice-Chancellor of the National Law School of India University R Venkata Rao; and Amarendra Prasad Behera, Joint Director-in-Charge, Central Institute of Educational Technology,NCERT. Earlier, the panel had 22 members. Following Supreme Court orders, three members have been removed from the NSTC. These are Michel Danino, former guest professor at IIT Gandhinagar; M D Srinivas, chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai; and the late Bibek Debroy, former chairman of the Prime Minister's
The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that it has the right and jurisdiction to hold what is a superstitious practice in a religion. This came in response to the Centre's submission that a secular court cannot decide the issue as judges are experts in the field of law, not religion. A nine-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is hearing petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, and on the ambit and scope of religious freedom practised by multiple faiths. At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, asked how the court decides what a superstitious practice is. "Even assuming that there is a superstitious practice," he said, "It is not for the court to determine that it is superstition. Under Article 25(2)(b) of the Constitution, it is for the legislature to step in and enact a reform law." "The legislature can say that a particular practice is ...
In a significant procedural directive, the Supreme Court has said that "exceptionally urgent matters" that cannot wait for the listing process have to be mentioned only before the Chief Justice of India, even if he is busy presiding over a constitution bench. According to the usual practice, urgent matters are mentioned for listing and hearing before the seniormost judge of the apex court if the CJI is either unavailable or busy heading a constitution bench. In a circular issued on April 6, the top court said, "Mentioning of exceptionally urgent matters, which cannot await listing before the Hon'ble Court as per circular dated November 29, 2025, is permitted before Court No 1, even when the Hon'ble Chief Justice is presiding over a constitution bench." The circular said that the mentioning of such matters is not permitted before any other bench.
A nine-judge Supreme Court bench on Tuesday commenced hearing on petitions related to discrimination against women at religious places, including Sabarimala temple of Keralam, and on the ambit and scope of religious freedom practised by multiple faiths. The Constitution bench comprises Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi. Ahead of the hearing, the Centre filed written submissions and requested the top court to uphold restriction on the entry of women of menstruating age into Sabarimala temple. The Union of India said the issue falls squarely within the domain of religious faith and denominational autonomy, and lies beyond the scope of judicial review. In September 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench, by a 4:1 majority verdict, had lifted the ban that prevented women between the age of 10 and 50 from entering the Ayyappa shrine at Sabarima
The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that all issues concerning installation of CCTVs in police stations across the country would be sorted out within two weeks. Attorney General R Venkataramani told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that he was taking stock of the issue and a lot of things were happening. The Union Home Secretary also appeared in court in pursuance of the apex court's April 6 order asking him to remain present before it on Tuesday so that appropriate assistance could be drawn from him in implementation of the scheme for installation of CCTVs in police stations. The top law officer told the bench that "within two weeks, he will make sure that all the issues are sorted out by holding regular meetings with the amicus curiae and other officers". The bench posted the matter for further hearing on April 28. The top court was hearing a suo motu case over lack of functional CCTVs in police stations.