From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: A 5-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit on Tuesday fixed the start of the final hearing from September 13 on the constitutional validity of the 10 percent quota and 10 percent reservations to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in higher education and government employment on the basis of the economic criteria.
It will list the matters on September 6 for directions. Other judges on the Bench are Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and Jamshed B Pardiwala.
On its anvil is the constitutional validity of the 103rd Constitution Amendment Act of 2019. The petition of the Janhit Abhiyan will be the lead matter challenging the constitutional validity of the 2019 Act, the CJI announced. It will be heard together with a case filed by the Andhra Pradesh government against the High Court’s decision of quashing its decision of granting reservations in higher education and public service for the entire Muslim population of the State in 2005.
Meanwhile, the court has appointed Shadab Farasat, Kanu Agarwal, Mahfooz Nazki, and Nachiketa as nodal counsel to see common compilation. The court said that common compilation should have relevant submissions and case compilations. The court also clarified that it should contain only an index of citations along with para and page numbers to make references to books. The court said that the arguing counsel to submit written submissions not exceeding three pages along with time they will take to argue.
All counsel are of the unanimous view that additional time is given to figure out the total time that will be taken to argue the cases.
The petitioners in the case include Jamiat-Ulama-e-Hind, Wasim Akram, Munsif daily, Sultan-ul-Uloom Education Society, Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, AP Community for Backward Classes, and Faisal Saifi (minor).
