RG Kar among 3 key Bengal cases to come up in SC today
Times of India | 5 November 2024
Kolkata: The three-judge bench led Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will hear the RG Kar rape-murder case at 3 pm on Tuesday. CJI Chandrachud's last working day as CJI is Nov 8. He will retire on Nov 10 and will be succeeded by Justice Sanjiv Khanna.
On Tuesday, CJI Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra are scheduled to hear three important cases in connection with Bengal, including the RG Kar matter. The others are the scrapping of 5 lakh OBC certificates in Bengal and the 26,000 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment case. However, according to a source, on Tuesday the SC is likely to hear only two of the three cases, one being the RG Kar matter.
The SSC matter pertains to the state govt challenging the order of Calcutta High Court directing the termination of the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staffers, who were appointed through the State Level Selection Test (SLST), 2016. The RG Kar hearing is listed as 21 in Tuesday's cause list before the Supreme Court bench.
So far, there have been six hearings in the RG Kar rape-murder case — on Aug 20, Aug 22, Sept 9, Sept 17, Sept 30 and Oct 15.
"Chief Justice is the master of the roster. After the new Chief Justice takes charge, he will constitute a bench for the hearing of the matter. He may constitute a new bench or continue with the existing bench, only replacing the erstwhile CJI with himself," former Bengal Advocate General Jayanta Mitra said. On whether the transition can possibly cause hiccups to the progression of the case, Mitra said that his colleagues will apprise the new CJI of the case and it goes on in its natural progression.