Important cases heard by the Supreme Court on Friday, May 19:
* SC deferred an Allahabad High Court order directing a scientific survey, including carbon dating, to determine the age of a “Shivling”, claimed to have been found at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque, saying implications of the order merit closer scrutiny.
* Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and senior advocate Kalpathy Venkataraman Viswanathan were administered the oath of office as judges of the Supreme Court by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud.
* SC directed the Bihar government to produce complete original records with regard to the remission granted to former MP Anand Mohan, who was serving life term in the 1994 murder case of then Gopalganj district magistrate G Krishnaiah.
* Observing that the lieutenant governor has to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers, SC ordered that the Chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) be appointed within two weeks.
* SC refused to stay the order of the Calcutta High Court handing over the probe into incidents of violence during Ram Navami celebrations in West Bengal to the NIA.
* Terming district judiciary the “backbone of the judicial system”, SC directed all states and the union territories to clear salary arrears and other dues to lower court judges across nation as per the recommendations of the Second National Judicial Pay Commission (SNJPC).
* SC said it is desirable that utterances made by an accused in any place within public view are outlined at least in the charge sheet before the person is subjected to trial under a provision of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
* SC dismissed a plea filed by Tata Motors challenging an order of the Bombay High Court which upheld the decision of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) to disqualify it from a tender bid for operating electric buses in the city.
