SC crisis settled: CJI appoints five-member panel to hear major cases

New Delhi : It looks like the virtual rift between Chief Justice Dipak Misra and four senior-most judges have been settled with CJI appointing a five-member panel to look into the major cases, however, he dropped all four rebel judges in the panel.

None of the four judges — Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph — feature in the list of members of the 5-judge constitution bench.

According to official information, the 5-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A K Sikri, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan, will commence the hearing on a range of crucial matters from January 17.

According to a report, the newly appointed panel will look into the cases such as those challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and its 2013 judgement re-criminalising gay sex between consenting adults.

The four judges had addressed a press conference on January 12 claiming that CJI Deepak Misra has not been allocating the cases wisely.

They had also raised questions over listing of PILs concerning Loya's death.