The year 2023 witnessed a flurry of Constitution bench verdicts by the Supreme Court, delivering milestone decisions that included ratifying some of the Union government’s major moves such as abrogation of Article 370 and demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes, even as the Centre found itself at the receiving end when the court ruled in favour of the Delhi government’s legislative and executive control over services in the national capital except for public order, police and land, and questioned the independence of the procedure to pick election commissioners.

While the latter two cases prodded the Centre into passing new laws to virtually nullify the court judgments, the Supreme Court remained a hive of activity, churning out an assortment of key judgments that expanded the limits of jurisprudence.

With a focus on cases having larger ramifications, the Supreme Court worked through the year to deliver more than a dozen judgments on issues ranging from the right to marry for same-sex couples to the rift within the Shiv Sena, while judgments on important cases were reserved on a host of other significant issues including a challenge to electoral bonds. Important bills affecting personal liberty vis-a-vis integrity and security of State also came up for renewed scrutiny before the top court.

Under the leadership of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, the Supreme Court worked with full strength of 34 judges for a major part of the year and an unprecedented 52,191 cases were disposed till December 15, 2023. Driven by justice Chandrachud, who took over as CJI in November 2022, the year also saw significant technological and infrastructural additions.

A run-down of the outgoing year will demonstrate that 2023 was as striking as any other year for the Supreme Court of India.

Constitution benchesA five-judge bench unanimously approving the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that ended the special status of Jammu & Kashmir marked a watershed, though the court’s refusal to rule on the conversion of the erstwhile state into two Union territories and directing elections to be held before September 30 next year sparked criticism from former top court judges.

In October, the top court, by a 3-2 majority, refused to recognise a fundamental right to marry and denied legal recognition to same-sex couples, leaving it to Parliament and state legislatures to validate their marital unions. It further declined constitutional protection to civil unions and adoption rights for queer couples. A bunch of review petitions challenging this verdict are pending for consideration by the top court.

Another significant ruling came in March when the top court proposed a high-level committee headed by Prime Minister and comprising the CJI and leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha for the appointment of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners. The Centre swiftly brought a law, later cleared by Parliament, replacing the CJI with a PM-nominated Cabinet minister, effectively giving government an upper hand in all poll body selections.

In May, the top court ruled that the Delhi government will have legislative and administrative control over services. Within days of the decision, an ordinance was brought, later replaced by a law, that firmly established Centre’s hold over the bureaucracy. The challenge to the new law by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is currently pending before a Constitution bench.

In January, the court upheld the government’s demonetisation decision of 2016 which scrapped old ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes. In successive months, the court passed a string of significant rulings on the State’s accountability for speeches or statements made by ministers, and the conduct of the bull-taming sport of Jallikattu, among others.

Hearings on significant issues were also concluded, including challenge to electoral bonds, automatic vacation of stay in trials after six months, validity of an Assam-specific law granting citizenship to immigrants from Bangladesh who settled in the state between January 1966 to March 25, 1971, and remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Through the year, the court monitored the relief and rehabilitation measures following the ethnic strife in Manipur by forming an oversight committee comprising retired judges. The top court also stayed the conviction of Congress leader and Wayanad member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi while keeping his appeal pending against a Gujarat court decision sentencing him to two years imprisonment in a defamation case.

Review of stringent lawsThe Vijay Madanlal Chaudhary judgment of July 2022, upholding stringent provisions of PMLA that gave sweeping powers to the Enforcement Directorate came for a re-look by a special bench even as a review of the judgment is still pending. The 2022 decision was by a three-judge bench. In March, another three-judge bench admitted a challenge to Sections 50 and 63 of PMLA. Section 50 requires a person summoned by ED to speak the truth while Section 63 provides punishment for giving false information. The special bench referred the matter to the CJI to reconstitute the bench as justice Kaul, who headed the bench, demitted office this month.

In September, petitions challenging another stringent law on sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were referred to a Constitution bench while the top court, in a significant decision in July held that “mere holding of certain literatures through which violent acts may be propagated would not ipso facto attract the offence of terror act” will not attract provisions under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA. The top court is already hearing a separate challenge to the stringent bail conditions under UAPA.

Access to justiceUnder the initiative of CJI Chandrachud, several courtrooms transitioned into “paperless courts”, hearings were conducted through videoconferencing, and Constitution bench hearings were live-streamed and transcribed in real-time.

The CJI, as the head of the e-committee of the Supreme Court, created an online free repository of all past Supreme Court cases and translated judgments from English into Hindi and 14 other regional languages.

A raft of other technological strides during the period included online filing of RTI applications, a judicial clock installed on the Supreme Court portal giving daily filing, disposal and pending figures, and matching Supreme Court data of existing and past cases with the National Judicial Data Grid.

In August, the CJI unveiled a “Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes” as a guide to judges and lawyers about obsolete terms, particularly pertaining to gender, that should be avoided in judicial discourse.

Gender-neutral toilets were introduced, and the disabled were specially cared for, with the provision for sign language interpreters, audio captcha to access the Supreme Court website, an accessibility audit of court infrastructure, and a café on the premises run by disabled persons.

The year 2024 promises to be just as eventful as 2023 was, particularly with the general elections to be held in April-May. It will also witness the retirement of four judges, including the CJI who will demit office on November 10.