4 Dec 2023 6:04 AM GMT
The Supreme Court has notified the composition of the Constitution Bench which will hear the reference against the 2018 judgment in Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency P. Ltd. Director V. Central Bureau of Investigation as per which interim orders of stay granted by High Courts and other courts in civil and criminal cases will automatically expire after a period of six months unless the orders are specifically extended.
The bench comprises Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Manoj Misra. According to a notification published on the Supreme Court's website, the matter (High Court Bar Association Allahabad v. Union of India) will be taken up for hearing after the conclusion of the Constitution Bench hearing in the case relating to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act 1955, which is listed on December 5.
It was on December 1 that a three-judge bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra referred Asian Resurfacing to a 5-judge bench, after expressing reservations about the dictum regarding automatic stay vacation.Incidentally, on the same day, another bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal, also expressed reservations about the judgment.
The matter listed before the CJI's bench was an appeal filed by the High Court Bar Association Allahabad based on a Certificate of Appeal granted by the Allahabad High Court which raised a set of doubts regarding the Asian Resurfacing judgment. In its judgment delivered on November 3, a 3-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court framed ten questions for the deliberation of the Supreme Court in relation to the dictum of automatic vacation of stay.
The CJI-led bench observed that automatic vacation of stay can result in miscarriage of justice in some cases. While referring the matter to a 5-judge bench, the bench observed in the order as follows :
"The above directions of this court indicate that in all matters, whether civil or criminal, orders of stay, which have once been granted, should not continue beyond a period of six months, unless specifically extended and the stay shall stand vacated automatically.
We have reservations in regard to the correctness of the the broad formulation of the principles in the above terms.
We are of the view that the principle which has been laid down in the above decision to the effect that a stay shall be automatically stand vacated (which would mean an automatic vacation of stay without the application of judicial mind to whether the stay should or should not be extended further) is liable to result in a miscarriage of justice."
Case Title : HIGH COURT BAR ASSOCIATION ALLAHABAD v. THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ORS | Crl.A. No. 3589/2023