The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred further hearing in the batch of temple administration and related criminal proceedings arising from Tamil Nadu, with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant indicating that constitution bench matters presently before him were taking priority and that continuing adjournments may ultimately result in a complete rehearing before another Bench.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred hearing in the batch of matters arising from the alleged theft and replacement of an antique peacock idol from Chennai’s Kapaleeshwarar Temple, with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant observing that if the matter could not continue before the present Bench due to upcoming seven-judge bench hearings, it may ultimately require a complete rehearing before another Bench.

The Chief Justice indicated that he intends to soon constitute seven-judge benches to hear long-pending constitutional references. While adjourning the present matter, the CJI remarked that once the seven-judge bench matters commence, it may become difficult to continue part-heard matters on a regular basis.

The Court was also informed that the newly elected State Government in Tamil Nadu (Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party) intended to place additional material and fresh instructions before the Court. On this, the Bench granted four weeks’ time to the State to place its position on record.

Several counsel requested that the matters continue before the same Bench, considering the substantial hearings already conducted. One counsel submitted:

“There is almost clear unanimity that it should be before the bench which Your Lordships are.”

The CJI acknowledged the concern and stated that the Court would attempt to accommodate the request if possible, while making it clear that scheduling difficulties owing to constitution bench matters remained substantial.

The matters are now likely to be listed in the last week of July or the first week of August.