NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear on May 3 the Centre’s plea for recalling its orders on the SC/ST Act. The Centre on Friday requested the court to urgently hear the plea, contending that the March 20 verdict was “resulting in great damage to the country”.
Attorney General KK Venugopal said before a bench of Justices AK Goel and Deepak Gupta that he had filed his written submission in the matter.
“The last line of your last order says that list the matter after written submission is filed. I have filed my written submission. Four states have also filed review petitions. Please give us a date,” Venugopal told the bench.Justice Goel said the matter would be listed for hearing in the next week and posted it for arguments on May 3.
The government has sought a recall of the judgment, which provided for a layer of protection before an FIR is registered or the accused is arrested.
The Centre, in its written submissions, said that the court’s judgment was in violation of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, adding that the verdict was completely in conflict with the law, which provides for immediate registration of an FIR and no provision for anticipatory bail.
The government stated that a lot of confusion and misunderstanding had been created due to the judgment and that needed to be corrected. The Centre also opposed the apex court’s direction empowering trial court judges to grant pre-arrest bail in such matters, and the decision of conducting a preliminary inquiry before arresting a public servant in cases under the SC/ST Act.
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