The Supreme Court on Monday referred a batch of over 20 petitions seeking legal recognition of marriages within the LGBT community to a five-judge constitution bench.
The matter will now be heard from April 18 and the proceedings live-streamed.
After hearing the Centre’s opposition to granting legal recognition to same-sex marriages, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud said the issue raised substantial questions involving the interpretation of the Constitution and was of “seminal importance” to Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression) and 21 (life and personal liberty).
The bench, which included Justices P. S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, said the court also had to examine the issue in the context of various personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, Muslim Marriage Act, Christian Marriage Act besides the Special Marriage Act.
Therefore, the bench said, it was appropriate to refer the matter to a five-judge constitution bench.
Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta initially opposed the batch of PILs saying the question should be left to the wisdom of Parliament, which reflected the will of the people but later agreed to the matter being referred to the constitution bench.
In the course of the hearing, Mehta told the court that the petitioners should be given sufficient time to advance their argument so that there was no criticism thereafter that they had not been heard properly.
