The Supreme Court will pronounce the verdict on a batch of review petitions filed in both Rafale and Sabrimala cases tomorrow.
The Sabrimala verdict will be delivered by a constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra at 10:30 am.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph will pronounce the Rafale verdict pursuant to Sabrimala’s judgment.
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In the Sabrimala case, the apex court had on September 28 in 2018 lifted a ban on the entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years into the premises of Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabrimala.
The order was reserved by the court in February earlier this year. The order which will be announced tomorrow is likely to uphold or set aside the 2018 order.
In the Rafale case, the petitioners had moved the top court seeking review of its verdict which dismissed a plea challenging India’s agreement with France for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets. The verdict on the Rafale case was reserved in May.
The Supreme Court will also pronounce its judgment on a contempt petition filed by BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for wrongly attributing the court while using his infamous ‘chowkidar chor hai’ remark.
Lekhi had accused Gandhi of misquoting the April 10 order of the apex court. He allegedly said that the apex court had accepted that ‘chowkidar’ (a reference to Prime Minister Modi), is a ‘chor’ (thief).
Subsequently, Gandhi tendered an unconditional apology to the top court and sought closure of the contempt proceedings against him.
(With ANI inputs)