Appeals by death row convicts for a stay in their execution will be heard by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court from August 16.
Appeals by death row convicts for a stay in their execution will be heard by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court from August 16. Their appeals were till now being heard by a two-judge Bench.
Chief Justice of India Justice RM Lodha informed about the change during the hearing on a bunch of petitions filed by Yakub Memon, a death row convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, and others.
The Chief Justice of India heads the Constitution Bench which is dealing with the appeals filed by the death row convicts, who want an open court hearing.
"We have changed the rules...now a three-judge Bench will hear all death appeals. The amendment was effected by a committee of Supreme Court judges and approved by a full court. The President has given his assent. Soon notification will be issued and it will be effective from August 16,'' the Chief Justice of India said.
A full court comprises all the judges of the Supreme Court.
The petitioners wanted their appeals to be taken up for hearing in the open court, as opposed to the existing procedure of deciding it in the judges' chambers. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar opposed this plea, and told the Court that oral hearing of review petitions is tantamount to re-opening the cases. This should not be done, he argued.
Hearing on the petitions will resume on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court had last month stayed the execution of Yakub Memon, and tagged his petition seeking a stay on his execution with the other pending cases, while referring them to a Constitution Bench.