Year that was for Supreme Court: Suo motu cases, legal tangles, order reversal

In 2025, the Supreme Court played a proactive role in taking up issues on its own (suo motu) and resolved complex legal tangles with three Chief Justices of India (CJI) occupying the highest seat of the judiciary. CJI Sanjiv Khanna, who took over in November 2024, demitted office in May. Bhushan R Gavai served until November 23. CJI Surya Kant will be at the helm until February 2027.

The judiciary had its share of controversies, with high court judge Yashwant Varma facing an impeachment motion after partly-burnt cash was found at his official residence in Delhi following a fire. A lawyer attempted to hurl a shoe at CJI Gavai inside his courtroom after he refused to entertain a plea for restoring the beheaded idol of Lord Vishnu at Khajuraho.

A November 20 order by a three-judge Supreme Court bench laying down a uniform definition of Aravalli hills was stayed by another three-judge bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, which found the earlier order failing to address “critical” issues. This was the latest in a series of orders reversed.

In the Nithari killings case, Surendra Koli, convicted by the top court in February 2011 and having spent 19 years in jail, was acquitted on November 11. In 12 other cases, the top court in July upheld his acquittal.

A Presidential reference on a set of 14 questions decided by a five-judge bench on November 20 held that courts cannot set timelines for governors and the President on clearing bills forwarded for their consent. In doing so, the judgment doubted the reasoning and conclusion of an April order by a two-judge bench that held indefinite delay on 10 bills by the Tamil Nadu governor to be “illegal” and prescribed timelines for the President and governors to decide bills under Articles 200 and 201 of the Constitution.

Another major reversal related to projects that failed to obtain prior environmental clearance (EC). After the court on May 16 held that post ex-facto EC was unknown to law, a three-judge bench overruled this order by a 2:1 majority in November, acting on a review petition filed by an apex body of real estate firms, considering the public interest aspect and failure to honour binding judicial precedents.

An April order banning the sale, storage, and distribution of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR was vacated for two days of Diwali on a “test case basis”. In another order in August, the court directed no coercive action against owners of end-of-life vehicles in Delhi-NCR (referring to 10-year-old diesel and 15-year-old petrol vehicles), altering its October 2018 decision directing all such vehicles to remain off the road. On December 17, the protection was restricted.

JSW Steel’s ₹19,700 crore deal to acquire Bhushan Power and Steel Limited was set aside by the top court in May. The same was revived on a review petition in September. In the Vodafone-Idea case, the court allowed Centre to reassess and reconcile adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of the company that faced an additional demand of ₹9450 crore. This order modified an October 27 order of the court that restricted the scope for reassessment to only “additional” AGR dues payable up to 2016-17.

The court initiated suo motu cases, including one on the digital arrest scam targeting mostly the elderly. Under the monitoring of a bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, all such cases have been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the larger conspiracy. The court directed the Centre to recommend measures to prevent such incidents.

In July, a two-judge bench took cognisance of a news report on the stray dogs posing a grave risk to children in Delhi. It passed an order on August 11 directing civic agencies to ensure all stray dogs are removed from the streets in Delhi-NCR. The matter went to a three-judge bench, which modified the order by allowing dogs to be released into localities after being sterilised and vaccinated.

In November, pan-India directions were issued to remove stray dogs from bus depots, railway stations, hospitals, sports complexes, and educational institutions, which are still being monitored.

The court initiated similar actions against non-functional CCTVs across police stations in Rajasthan, the ecological crisis faced due to unregulated development in Himachal Pradesh, and the health hazard posed by industrial pollution in Rajasthan’s Jojari river.

The Supreme Court introduced a slew of administrative reforms. CJI Kant introduced two circulars restricting lawyers from circulating notes of arguments in advance, along with timelines for oral arguments in old/regular cases. Four new categories for listing of cases were introduced to give priority of listing to cases of people below the poverty line, senior citizens (above 80 years), specially abled persons, acid attack victims, etc.

In April, then CJI Sanjiv Khanna was instrumental in taking all Supreme Court judges on board to pass a Full Court Resolution making their assets and liabilities public. He put out the list of judicial appointments recommended by the Collegium since November 2022. This practice was also followed by his successor, CJI Gavai, allowing public access to information about those candidates whose kin have been past or present judges.