The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear that fresh pleas related to the Sabarimala Temple will be heard only after it decides the earlier petitions seeking review of the judgment allowing entry of women of all age groups into the shrine in Kerala.
A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said a five-judge bench is scheduled to hear in-chamber the review petitions at 3 pm Tuesday.
"Writ petitions will be heard after the orders in the review petitions," the bench, also comprising justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, said.
The bench stated this while hearing the three fresh petitions filed by G Vijaya Kumar, S Jaya Rajkumar and Shailaja Vijayan challenging its September 28 verdict.
If the apex court decides to review the verdict then the three fresh petitions will be heard along with the review petitions. But, if the court rejects the review petitions then the fresh petitions will be heard independently on merit.
A batch of 48 petitions seeking review of the judgment would be taken up for consideration in-chamber by a bench of Chief Justice Gogoi and justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
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On September 28, a five-judge constitution bench headed by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, in its 4:1 verdict, had paved the way for entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala Temple saying the ban amounted to gender discrimination.
The top court had on October 9 declined an urgent hearing on the review plea filed by an association which had contended that the five-judge Constitution bench's verdict lifting the ban was "absolutely untenable and irrational".
A plea filed by the National Ayyappa Devotees Association (NADA), which has sought review of the verdict, had said,"The notion that the judgment under review is revolutionary, one which removes the stigma or the concept of dirt or pollution associated with menstruation, is unfounded."