NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday requested the Madras High Court to expeditiously hear the writ petitions pending before it on the issue of constitutional validity of 3 new criminal laws namely Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA).
“Having regard to the importance of the issue and the fact that writ petitions are awaiting effective hearing, we request Chief Justice of the High Court to place all matters before a Division Bench, with further request for early/out-of-turn hearing in the matters”, the court said in its order.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing an appeal filed by the Federation of Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, (FBATNP) seeking transfer of the cases from the HC to the SC.
The petitioner, FBATNP, moved the apex court and sought transfer on the ground that some petitions challenging the validity of the new criminal laws were already pending before the SC.
The petitioner further submitted to the court that notice in the underlying petitions was issued by the HC on September 25, 2024; however, since then, no effective date of hearing had been fixed. The apex court decided to request the HC to hear the pleas, after keeping in view the necessity that a HC’s view would be helpful in the matter.