Hello everyone, and thank you for being part of our SCO community here on Telegram.

Many of you have been receiving our updates here and have shared valuable feedback with us. A frequent request has been to make our morning broadcast more easily accessible on WhatsApp.

We’re happy to share that the SCO Morning Broadcast is now available on our new WhatsApp Channel!

If you’d like to receive the updates on WhatsApp every morning over chai, just click the link below and hit Follow:

🔗 https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb71GytJUM2hI6G7Sl3e

Thank you for your continued support — we look forward to seeing you there!

🌼 Good morning!

👩🏽‍⚖️ Today, the Supreme Court will deliver its judgement in the Presidential Reference which sought the Court’s opinion on the extent of discretion exercised by the Governor and the President while granting assent to state bills: https://bit.ly/483NffU

❎ Yesterday, a Division Bench struck down provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 stating that the Union reintroduced provisions that were previously struck down by the Court. Judgement summary: https://bit.ly/3KdJpZJ

📌 A Constitution Bench of the Court held that appointees in the Higher Judiciary Services should follow a uniform national roster. Our summary: https://bit.ly/3X2bo1r

📊 Matrix: https://bit.ly/43BRgHc

🪴 Good morning!

🗂️ Today is CJI Gavai’s last working day in the Court. In the first of our articles reviewing his CJI tenure, we take a look at pendency: https://bit.ly/4p3zZPu

📃 On his penultimate working day, a CJI Gavai-led Bench delivered an advisory opinion in a Presidential Reference concerning the powers of the Governor and President. Our summary of the 111-page opinion: https://bit.ly/4pp79sR

✏️ Our judgement matrix lists the findings at a glance: https://bit.ly/3MdBJqR

2️⃣ On Wednesday, benches led by CJI Gavai delivered decisions on the reservations for civil judges (https://bit.ly/3X2bo1r) and the validity of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021. (https://bit.ly/3KdJpZJ)

🔍 Keep an eye on our website for more stories on CJI Gavai's tenure!

🌅 Good Morning

🧑🏻‍⚖️ B.R. Gavai's tenure as CJI ended yesterday. Read our desk brief about his administrative moves: https://bit.ly/4ijt7uT

📑 His tenure saw pendency crossing the 90,000 mark. The how, what, why: https://bit.ly/4p3zZPu

💼 Waqf Amendment, Bulldozer Justice, and Presidential Reference were among his most notable verdicts: https://bit.ly/3K3ChPE

👥 A detailed assessment of Collegium activity during the tenure: https://bit.ly/4pniF80

🧮 How many benches? How many verdicts authored? His tenure in numbers: https://bit.ly/4odMLdd

✨ A report on the ceremonial bench for his farewell: https://bit.ly/47X2FE3

🪴 Good morning!

⚖️ Today marks 76 years of the adoption of India’s Constitution. Here's an excerpt of Dr Ambedkar's speech in the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949: https://bit.ly/3K7vGUn

👥 The SC Collegium has been reconstituted following CJI Gavai’s retirement. CJI Surya Kant now heads a five-member Collegium comprising Justices Nath, Maheshwari, Nagarathna and Sundresh. Our article on the new Collegium and the changes expected over the next two years: https://bit.ly/4ijX9i5

🗂️ Yesterday, the Court questioned breaches of the 50% reservation cap in Maharashtra’s local bodies polls. A two-judge Bench was informed that 57 of 288 notified bodies exceed the 50% ceiling. Read: https://bit.ly/43Q8IHU

🌻 Good Morning!

📖 As India marks 76 years of the Constitution, V. Krishna Ananth asks us to look beyond the legal text and reflect on the idea of India embedded within its pages. Read the excerpt: https://bit.ly/4iodO4h

🪑 With CJI Surya Kant taking charge, the Supreme Court Collegium has been reconstituted. Here’s what stands out in the new lineup: https://bit.ly/4ijX9i5

⚖️ On Monday, a two-judge Bench took up the challenge to the 50% reservation cap in Maharashtra’s local bodies polls. Our report on the hearing: https://bit.ly/43Q8IHU

☀ Good morning!

🗳 Yesterday, petitioners challenging the Bihar SIR argued that the ECI sought documents that are beyond statutory requirements: https://bit.ly/4ioQlQf

📺 In the aftermath of the Ranveer Allahabadia controversy, the Union government informed the Court yesterday that it is drafting guidelines for regulating user-generated content on the Internet: https://bit.ly/43SuquU

📚 What happens now when a Governor sits on a state bill? In our commentary, Pranav Verma, Assistant Professor (Law) at NLSIU, writes that the Court’s advisory opinion steps back from the Tamil Nadu judgement and leaves broad discretion with the Governors: https://bit.ly/4ipl93y

🌻 Good Morning!

🔄 Last week, the Supreme Court delivered a Judgement that offered an unusually candid institutional reflection, noting a growing trend of benches overturning earlier verdicts of the Court. It warned that such instances undermine the finality of a verdict. More: https://bit.ly/3XrvdPP

📂 Today, the Court is expected to take up the case concerning the vacancies in Central and state information commissions. In the previous hearing, petitioners had warned that the delay in filling vacancies is effectively defeating the purpose of the RTI Act: https://bit.ly/43vlKKU

⏹ On Friday, the Court directed that the Maharashtra local body polls may continue elections as scheduled. It stated that any further election notifications should comply with the 50 percent ceiling on reservations: https://bit.ly/3K6T30l

🌱 Good Morning!

⌨️ The Supreme Court yesterday refused to extend the six-month deadline for registering Waqf Properties. More in our hearing report: https://bit.ly/4oqCsm4

🔍 The Court also sought compliance reports from States on filling of vacancies at the Central Information Commission: https://bit.ly/43ZLGOU

☁️ Yesterday, CJI Surya Kant asked the Union to file a report on the measures taken to tackle Delhi’s air pollution: https://bit.ly/48pSd6S

✨ New issue of SCO.LR with 5 important judgements from last week is out. Catch Volume 12 Issue 1 here: https://bit.ly/4ooap6L

🍀Good morning!

🗳️ In the challenge to the SIR in Bihar, the Supreme Court cautioned petitioners from making “sweeping assertions” against the Election Commission: https://bit.ly/44HrsJW

⚖️ Petitioners in the Delhi riots case argued yesterday that prolonged custody cannot rest on speeches alone, pointing to years of delay, multiple supplementary chargesheets, and the absence of any act tying them to the violence: https://bit.ly/4pjEWnC

📚 A deep dive into CJI Gavai’s final week shows a Court repeatedly revisiting its own judgments, raising questions about finality of a judicial verdict: https://bit.ly/44prRAX

🗂️ The latest issue of SCO.LR is out, covering judgements on arbitration, auction-sale objections, finality of decisions, cheque-dishonour and bail on parity: https://bit.ly/3Y7pJtG

🌄 Good Morning!

🌳 In our latest commentary, Advocate Gulnar A. Mistry explains how the Court upended settled legal principles and effectively reversed the rule of precedents by upholding retrospective environmental clearances in the Vanashakti review: https://bit.ly/48P2oTM

⏪ The Supreme Court’s decision in Vanashakti reversed a ruling by another Bench. This raises an important question: is this an anomaly or part of a broader pattern? Our commentary examines similar reversals by coordinate benches over the past six months: https://bit.ly/44prRAX

👨🏻‍⚖ What has the Court itself said on this? A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A.G. Masih recently observed that this emerging trend of overturning earlier verdicts poses a threat to the finality guaranteed under Article 141: https://bit.ly/3XrvdPP

🌞 Good morning

📕Reflecting on 75 years of India’s constitutional journey, V. Krishna Ananth’s book illuminates how State power, popular movements and institutional negotiations have reshaped the living document. Read the book review here: https://bit.ly/48v56fT

📑 Yesterday, the Bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi stressed on the State's role in easing hardships for Booth Level Officers involved in the SIR exercise. Hearing report: https://bit.ly/4pk3oW5

🚨This week, the Court adjourned the bail plea of Umar Khalid and others arrested in the 2020 Delhi Riots conspiracy case to 10 December. Khalid has been in prison for more than five years. We track the timeline of his bail applications: https://bit.ly/4iX4u7T

🌞 Good morning!

🕰 The Supreme Court has heard 17 days of arguments in the challenge to the Bihar SIR. Meanwhile, the Bihar elections have concluded under the revised roll. As the exercise continues in 9 other states, we explore the gaps between adjudication and time-sensitive administrative action: https://bit.ly/4rKeiWG

🌿Advoate Gulnar A. Mistry reviews the Vanashakti judgement, analysing how the Court’s reasoning risks reducing binding statutory safeguards to optional directions: https://bit.ly/4iIexgR

⚖ Two weeks into CJI Surya Kant’s tenure, how is he setting the tone for his 14-month term? Read to find out: https://bit.ly/4pZokl7

🌞 Good morning!

🕰️ The Supreme Court has heard 17 days of arguments in the challenge to the Bihar SIR. With the state elections now concluded under the revised roll and the exercise continuing in nine other states, the question is whether adjudication can keep pace with time-bound administrative steps: https://bit.ly/4rKeiWG

🗓️November saw the Court issue its opinion on a Presidential Reference and the beginning of CJI Surya Kant’s long tenure. Our monthly review: https://bit.ly/3KHo5Ml

🗂 The latest issue of SCO.LR is out — featuring key judgements on stamp duty exemptions, dying declarations, GST on residential buildings, the Muslim Women Act and disability rights: https://bit.ly/4iFI5e

🌞 Good Morning!

🕰 On Day 18 of the challenge to Bihar's SIR, petitioners argued that the constitutional scheme and the Representation of the People Act does not empower the ECI to determine the citizenship status of voters. The burden of proving of non-citizenship is on the state. Report: https://bit.ly/4iMbXq9

👮‍♂️ Today the Delhi police is expected to argue against the bail applications filed by Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and others accused in the 2020 Delhi Riots. Petitioners concluded their arguments challenging the prolonged custody and repeated supplementary chargesheet filed against the accused activists. Report: https://bit.ly/3Mnt71f

💨 The Court will hear the Delhi air-pollution matter today. Previously, the Court asked why stubble burning is being politicised and pressed authorities to show what their action plans have delivered. Our report: https://bit.ly/4oW8O8M

🌻 Good morning!

👮‍♂ Yesterday, the Court reserved judgement in Umar Khalid’s bail application. The Delhi Police relied on speeches, chats, meetings, CDR records and witness statements to argue that the riots conspiracy was planned months earlier. The Bench questioned whether the speeches meet the definition of a terrorist act under the UAPA: https://bit.ly/4a44h05

📈Follow our bail tracker for a full timeline of Khalid’s bail proceedings across courts: https://bit.ly/4pC8ddm

🗳 The Court will continue hearing the challenge to Bihar SIR today. In the previous hearing, petitioners argued that the SIR is being carried out with haste and opacity. They pointed to repeated deletions made without the inquiry and hearing required under the 1960 Rules: https://bit.ly/3KqeOI

🪴 Good morning!

🗳️ Yesterday, petitioners argued that the Election Commission has misunderstood its constitutional role and approached the SIR from a position of suspicion rather than facilitation. More: https://bit.ly/4iU0LYr

📈 The Karkardooma Court in Delhi has granted Umar Khalid interim bail from 16 to 26 December to attend his sister’s wedding. Our bail tracker has the full timeline of his bail proceedings across courts: https://bit.ly/4pC8ddm

📕 Marking 75 years of India’s constitutional journey, V. Krishna Ananth’s book traces how State power, political movements and institutional choices have shaped the Constitution as a living document. Review: //bit.ly/4pwyDgJ

🌞 Good morning!

🕰 As the year ends, pendency has inched closer to 91000 cases. The backlog grew by 444 cases in November, reaching a total of 90,694. More here: http://bit.ly/4oYSMuK

📈 Delhi's Karkardooma Court has granted interim bail to Umar Khalid from 16-26 December to attend his sister’s wedding. Our tracker has the complete timeline of his bail proceedings across courts: https://bit.ly/4pC8ddm

🗳 The Supreme Court has heard 19 days of arguments in the challenge to the Bihar SIR. Meanwhile, the Bihar elections have concluded under the revised roll. As the exercise continues in 9 other states, we look at the time lag between adjudication and action: https://bit.ly/4iU0LYr

*Correction:*
Today's morning update incorrectly stated that Umar Khalid was granted bail from 16-26 December 2025. Khalid's bail is from *16-29 December 2025*. The error is regretted.

🌞 Good morning!

🕰 On Dec 2, the Supreme Court heard a habeas corpus plea alleging the disappearance of five Rohingya persons. The petitioner argued that deportation processes risk unlawful transfer or trafficking: https://bit.ly/44pyfIo

📰 Vol 12 Issue 3 of SCOLR is out, featuring key judgements on judicial review, bail, taxation, ICC jurisdiction in POSH cases, and compassionate appointments: https://bit.ly/4aRRE8G

📈 Our latest video explains the Constitution Bench decision that laid down binding guidelines on the progression of judges in the district judiciary. Watch here: https://bit.ly/3L043wO

🌇 Good morning!

🚨 Yesterday, the Supreme Court gave the Union more time to respond and adjourned the hearing of the petition that alleged the disappearance of a family of five Rohingya persons. Our newsletter tells you more about the case: https://bit.ly/44pyfIo

🗳 On Day 20 of the challenge to Bihar's SIR, the Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard submissions by petitioners on reports of large-scale deletion notices. Our hearing report: https://bit.ly/3L3J8Ji

🗃 In November 2025, the Supreme Court pendency inched closer to 91000. This trend is in line with our previous assessment that the Court is facing a looming pendency crisis. More: http://bit.ly/4oYSMuK