Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Friday pulled up a lawyer, who sent an email saying that the Supreme Court should prioritise hearing matters filed by ordinary people over “useless” issues coming up before the Constitution Bench.

“You seem to be in ignorance of what Constitution Bench matters are…You may think that Article 370 petitions are not relevant. I don’t think that is what the government or petitioners in that case feel,” the CJI told advocate Mathews Nedumpara, adding that the Supreme Court “has been hearing the voice of the nation”.

All Constitutional Bench matters do not necessarily include interpretation of the Constitution, he said, referring to the recent instance where a Constitution Bench on September 13 asked the Union Road Transport and Highway Ministry to relook into its notifications providing that Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) licence holders do not require separate endorsement to drive a transport vehicle of LMV class as its potential decision could adversely “affect hundreds of thousands of drivers”.

CJI Chandrachud asked the advocate to disabuse his mind that the top court was “only dealing with some fancy Constitution bench matters which have no bearing on the lives of ordinary people”.

On September 5, a 5-judge Constitution Bench, headed by the CJI, reserved its judgment in the batch of petitions challenging the 2019 Presidential Order taking away the special status accorded to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two Union Territories.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)