Justice L Victoria Gowri, Bohra excommunication, validity of AIBE: Supreme Court to deliver 3 important verdicts tomorrow

In what will be a busy Friday, the Supreme Court will deliver judgments in three contentious matters..A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul will deliver judgment on Dawoodi Bohra community's excommunication practice and on the validity of the All India Bar Examination (AIBE)..Another Bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna will deliver reasons on why the Court refused to entertain a writ petition challenging the appointment of L Victoria Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras High Court..Bohra Excommunication .The five-judge Constitution Bench of Justices Kaul, Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari will deliver its judgment on whether the Bohra community has the right to excommunicate dissidents in exercise of its fundamental rights under Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India..The top court will lay down the law regarding the correctness of its 1962 judgment in Sardar Syedna Taher Saifuddin v. The State Of Bombay, in which it had protected the rights of the Bohra community to excommunicate members. That judgment was also delivered by a five-judge Bench.However, the enactment of Maharashtra Protection of People from Social Boycott (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act in 2016 outlawed practices like excommunication..Validity of AIBE.The same Constitution Bench will also deliver its verdict on the petitions challenging the validity of the All India Bar Exam..The three main issues which the judgment will answer are:Can the Bar Council of India (BCI) prescribe a pre-enrolment exam as a condition precedent for enrolment?Can the BCI prescribe pre-enrolment training in terms of its training rules issued in 1995?If a pre-enrolment exam is not permitted, can BCI prescribe a post-enrolment exam in alignment with Section 49 (1) (ah) of the Advocates Act, 1961?.Appointment of L Victoria Gowri.Justices Khanna and BR Gavai will pronounce the reasons on why it dismissed the writ petition challenging the appointment of L Victoria Gowri, which grabbed the headlines earlier this week.The Bench had earlier stated that the issue raised in the petition pertains not to the eligibility of Gowri, but to her suitability as a judge, which is a subjective assessment. Thus, it said, that it would not be able to examine the same..The top court had heard a plea filed by lawyers from the Madras High Court challenging Gowri's appointment on concerns that she had allegedly exhibited “strong prejudice” against citizens on the ground of their religious affiliation. Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for the petitioners, had said that the eligibility criteria for High Court judges prescribed under Article 217 of the Constitution has certain implied conditions as well..Will strive to liberate marginalised, nurture fraternity in this diverse, beautiful country: Justice L Victoria Gowri