‘Country’s voice heard in Article 370 case’, Supreme Court denies allegations of not listening to common citizens

New Delhi, PTI. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected allegations that it does not listen to common citizens and said that it has heard the voice of the people of the country and Kashmir on the issue of abrogation of Article 370.

In fact, lawyer Mathews Nedumpara had sent an email to the apex court claiming that the Supreme Court is only hearing Constitution Bench cases. There is no public interest involved in this. He does not listen to the cases of common citizens.

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Did the Chief Justice say anything?

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said,

Mr. Nedumpara, I do not want to get involved in this issue with you, but the Secretary General has informed me about the email you have written to the Supreme Court. In this you have said that the Supreme Court should not hear Constitution Bench cases. He should hear only non-constitution bench cases.

Nedumpara admitted that he had written the email to the apex court and said that by non-constitution bench cases, he meant cases of common people.

Emphasizing the importance of Constitution Bench cases, the CJI said,

I just wanted to tell you that you don’t know what the Constitution Bench cases are? You seem to be unaware of the importance of Constitution Bench cases. These often include the interpretation of the Constitution, which forms the foundation of the legal framework in the country.

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Justice Chandrachud said that you can think about Article 370 – this issue is not relevant. I have not wondered what the government or the petitioners think about this matter? In this case we heard from groups of individuals and people who came from the valley to express their views. Therefore, in this matter we listened to the voice of the country.

Let us tell you, after a marathon hearing of 16 days, the apex court had reserved its decision on September 5 on the petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370.