CJI DY Chandrachud turns down plea for urgent listing of Hijab row cases; check details

By Team Newsable | First Published Mar 3, 2023, 2:45 PM IST

In October last year, the apex court delivered a split verdict on the ban with one judge affirming that the state government is authorised to enforce a uniform in schools. The other called the hijab a matter of choice that cannot be stifled.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud on Friday (March 3) turned down an immediate listing of pleas seeking a directive to government institutions in Karnataka to allow students to appear for examinations wearing the hijab.

Addressing a lawyer, the CJI said, "I will list it immediately after the Holi vacation. I will create a bench."

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The lawyer pointed out that the exams are starting on March 9. "What can I do if you come on the last day?" the CJI asked the lawyer, who responded by saying the requests for a hearing were mentioned twice over the last two months.

"I will form a bench. I will list the matter," the CJI reiterated. But the lawyer asked, "What about the exams?" "I can't answer your questions," the CJI retorted.

On February 22, the CJI said he would "take a call" soon on setting up a three-judge bench to take up the matter in view of a split verdict of the two judges of the previous bench in October 2022 after a group of students from Karnataka mentioned a similar plea. Another plea for listing the matter was made on January 23.

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Justice Hemant Gupta, in his judgment, dismissed all the appeals filed against the Karnataka high court judgment, which held in March that wearing of the hijab is not mandatory in Islam and that the state government was empowered to enforce the uniform mandate.

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