The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the review petitions against its Sabarimala verdict in open court on January 22. However, the five-judge bench, comprising of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Rohinton Nariman, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra, clarified that there would be no stay on its September 28 verdict that allowed entry of women of all age groups in Sabarimala Temple.
As per the reports in news18, allowing review petitions to be heard in open court signifies that the court wants to give sufficient opportunity to the petitioners to make out their case before the fate of the matter is eventually decided.
It would allow the lawyers to make oral arguments and this would be especially beneficial for the review petitioners who were not parties in the case earlier.
Out of 49 review petitions, more than two dozen petitioners were not there in the previous round and hence, they have to be first added as parties by a permission from the bench. Lawyers for these parties have an advantage now to persuade the court through arguments as to why they should also be allowed to challenge the verdict.
On Tuesday, the bench allowed an open court hearing but no notices were issued and the case was not admitted for hearing.
It indicates that the top court has still not made up its mind on the strength of the review petitions and the merit in them to satisfy the limited grounds required for review of a judgment. This decision has been deferred until the petitions are heard in the open court.
Therefore, the petitioners will have to convince the court on January 22 that they have valid and good grounds for reconsideration of the September 28 judgment and hence, notices should be issued to Kerala government, Devaswom Board and other parties.
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