The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Wednesday several important cases, including the pleas pertaining to the recent political crisis in Maharashtra that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and the petition by Alt News co-founder Mohd Zubair relating to FIRs lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh.
The apex court would also take up for hearing the plea of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking to amend its constitution with regard to the tenure of its office bearers, including President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah.
Zubair plea
In a breather for Mohammed Zubair, the Supreme Court on Monday directed that no "precipitative steps" be taken against the fact-checker in the five cases he is facing in Uttar Pradesh, calling the FIRs a "vicious cycle" of police action.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna said it would hear on July 20 the plea filed by Zubair, the co-founder of Alt News who is seeking quashing of the five FIRs registered against him for allegedly outraging religious sentiments.
"In the meantime, we direct that no precipitative steps shall be taken against the petitioner [Zubair] in connection with any of the five FIRs, which have been extracted above (in the order), without the leave of this court," the bench said while issuing notice to the UP government on his plea. Of the six FIRs registered against him in UP, Zubair is currently in judicial custody in a Hathras case while he has been granted interim bail by the top court in the Sitapur case.
The bench noted that Zubair was granted interim bail by the apex court in connection with the case lodged against him in Sitapur district in UP. The interim bail was last week extended till further orders.
Maharashtra case
The MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena had filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated against them under the Constitutional scheme.
The bench, also comprising justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli is already scheduled to hear today as many as five pending pleas about the recent political crisis in Maharashtra that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state. The turmoil began with a rebellion in the Shiv Sena following which Uddhav Thackeray resigned as chief minister on June 29.
A day later, rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde took an oath as chief minister with the BJP supporting his faction. The fresh sixth plea was mentioned before the bench by senior advocate Devdatt Kamat. "Maharashtra matters are listed on Wednesday. I request for tagging the same along with them," Kamat said.
BCCI
The Supreme Court will hear today the plea of the Board of Control for Cricket in India seeking to amend its constitution with regard to the tenure of its office bearers including President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah.
Earlier, the Justice RM Lodha led committee had recommended reforms in the BCCI which have been accepted by the top court. According to the recommendations, there should be a three-year cooling off period for the office bearers of the BCCI after a tenure of six years once a post comes to an end at the state cricket association or at the BCCI level.
The BCCI, in its proposed amendment, has sought abolition of cooling off period for its office bearers which would enable BCCI president Ganguly and secretary Shah to continue in office despite them having completed six years at respective state cricket associations.
