CJI Gogoi to Chair Vacation Bench, Will Hear ‘Urgent Matters’

CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice MR Shah will likely hear matters on govt formation in case there’s no clear majority.

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(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

As the Supreme Court closes doors for the annual summer vacation from 13 May to 30 June, it announced on Thursday, 9 May, that Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will be presiding over a vacation bench.

According to the Supreme Court notification available on Live Law, CJI Gogoi along with Justice MR Shah will be presiding over the vacation bench from 25 May to 30 May and will hear "urgent miscellaneous matters".

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The latest development indicates that in the case of matters pertaining to probable government-formation disputes – if there is no majority for any political party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections – the CJI bench will be most likely looking into the matter.

During the Karnataka Assembly polls around the same time last year, SC faced a political crisis after Congress knocked on its doors – challenging Governor Vajubhai Vala's decision to allow BJP to form the state government and giving the saffron party two weeks’ time to prove its majority on the floor.

BJP had emerged as the single largest party but fell short of the majority mark.

The SC bench comprising Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan through an interim order, scrapped the two-week window which led to BJP’s failure to prove its majority on the floor.

The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in a post-poll alliance crossed the majority mark, and formed the government with HD Kumaraswamy as the new chief minister.

The poll results for the on-going Lok Sabha elections will be declared on 23 May.

(With inputs from Live Law)