Today in Supreme Court - 8 Constitution Benches matters, 5 other important cases

The new Chief Justice of India UU Lalit has wasted no time to set the ball rolling and has ushered in visible changes in listing and hearing of cases right from day 1 yesterday. .The second day is no different. Two Constitution benches have been constituted today which will hear 4 cases each. These won't be lengthy hearings but only hearing for directions which would mean that parties are given time to complete their pleadings and a date will be given for hearing the case at length. Besides these, at least four high profile cases which are over 10 years old have also been listed for hearing today..Below are the details:.The first Constitution bench comprises of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, S Ravindra Bhat, Bela M Trivedi and JB Pardiwala.The second constitution bench comprises of Justices Indira Banerjee, Hemant Gupta, Surya Kant, MM Sundresh and Sudhanshu Dhulia.Read more about the Constitution Bench cases listed before the two benches here. .Contempt of Court case against Prashant Bhushan.Item 103 in Court 5 Bench: Justices Indira Banerjee, Surya Kant and MM Sundresh.About the case: In 2009, Bhushan gave an interview to Tehelka magazine in which he alleged that eight of the last sixteen CJI's have been corrupt. A contempt case was initiated and Bhushan's father, Senior Counsel Shanti Bhushan submitted details of the list of corrupt CJIs in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court. The case which was initiated in 2009 went into cold storage in 2012. It then got revived in 2020 when a Justice Arun Mishra led bench decided to hear the matter. However, the hearing could not happen due to Justice Mishra's retirement. The matter is now being listed for the first time after that. .Black Money petition by late Ram Jethmalani.Item 104 in court 4Bench: Justices S Abdul Nazeer, AS Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian About the case: This petition was filed in 2009 by Senior Advocate late Ram Jethmalani to bring back black money parked by Indians in foreign banks. In 2011, the top court had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct probe into the persons accused of stashing money abroad. The SIT had submitted various reports to the Court from 2014. These reports are kept in sealed cover. Jethmalani meanwhile fell out with the Narendra Modi government over this issue. Jethmalani had supported Modi in his run up to the 2014 parliamentary elections based on the poll promise to bring back black money. The veteran lawyer, however, alleged that after coming to power, the BJP government did not take steps to fulfill the same.The case was last heard by the Supreme Court in April 2016 and has not been heard since then. Jethmalani passed away in 2019. .Ratan Tata plea in relation to Radia Tapes.Item 105 in court 2Bench: Justices DY Chandrachud, Hima Kohli, PS Narasimha About the case: This petition was filed by Tata Group's former chairperson Ratan Tata seeking right to privacy after telephonic conversations between lobbyist Nira Radia and various persons including Tata had been published by media.Tata in his plea has sought action against the same contending that it infringed his right to privacy under Article 21. The matter went into cold storage in 2014 and got listed after that only in July 2019. It then did not get listed again for three years until now. .1992 Mumbai Riots and Justice Sri Krishna Commission report.Item 102 in court 3Bench: Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay S Oka and Vikram NathAbout the case: This petition was filed by a body 'Action Committee for Implementation of Sri Krishna Report' in 1998.The plea sought implementation of the report filed by Justice Sri Krishna Commission which indicted many police officers and certain leaders of Shiv Sena for the 1992 Mumbai riots.The matter was last listed in February 2020 when the petitioner told the Court that the State Government has continuously dragged its feet and done precious little to implement the findings of the report.The Court also noted in its order passed on February 11, 2020 that though it called upon the State to file a detailed affidavit, regarding the action taken against the police officers, way back in December 2018, nothing was filed.The Court, therefore, directed Secretary (Home) of the State of Maharashtra to file a detailed response/status report in respect of each and every such officer mentioned in the report which would include a response as to criminal action taken and its culmination..Teesta Setalvad bail.Item 1 in court 1 (at 2 pm) Bench: Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justice, S Ravindra BhatAbout the case: Bail plea filed by activist Teesta Setalvad after she was arrested for allegedly fabricating documents to frame high-ranking officials including then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the 2002 Godhra Riots cases.The Court had issued notice in the matter on August 22. The Gujarat government, subsequently, filed an affidavit before the top court stating that Setalvad conspired with a senior leader of a political party to fabricate evidence and received a huge sum of money for the same.