Year review 2023: Article 370, same-sex marriage, Maharashtra political row — here are 5 key Supreme Court judgements

The Indian judiciary made significant achievements in terms of resolving pending cases. India is infamous for a large number of court cases that can go on for decades. In 2023, pendency numbers in the Supreme Court touched its all-time high of 80,439. At the same time, the apex court managed to announce judgments in around 52,220 cases this year, a significant improvement from the previous year, according to the data from the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG). Here is the list of 5 key judgments announced by the apex court in 2023.

Right to die with dignity

In January this year, the Supreme Court removed some mandatory conditions mentioned in the guidelines for the withdrawal of life-support systems of terminally ill patients. The SC bench had announced its judgements while hearing the case Common Cause vs Union of India.

The decision was based on the SC’s previous judgement in Common Cause vs Union of India (2018) in which the SC had stated that the Right to Die with Dignity is a fundamental right under Article 21.

In this year’s judgement, the apex court changed the guidelines for euthanasia and held that doctors will need only five years of experience to be a part of the medical board. As per the guidelines, two boards of doctors play a key role in the validation of end-of-life instructions laid down on behalf of a critically ill patient. Earlier, a doctor required an experience of 20 years to be a part of any of the board. The judgement also made it mandatory for the two boards to arrive at a decision “preferably” within 48 hours of the case being referred to it.

Article 370

In another judgement, a Supreme Court bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud upheld the central government’s move to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution. The Article gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The SC also instructed the Centre to order assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 2024, along with the restoration of their statehood at the earliest. In its ruling, the Supreme Court had agreed with the Union that Article 370 was a temporary provision as it was placed under Part XXI of the constitution.

Delhi LG vs AAP

Another Supreme Court bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud announced its decision on the Government of NCT of Delhi v Union of India case on May 11. In its judgement, the SC bench made it clear that the government of the National Capital of Delhi (NCTD), instead of the Lieutenant Governor (LG), is responsible for the management of the national capital’s civil servants and daily administrative affairs.

After the announcement of the judgement, The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, moved by the BJP government was passed by the Parliament. The Modi government’s Bill reversed the SC judgement in the matter.

Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena

In the case -- Subhash Desai vs Principal Secretary, Governor of Maharashtra and Ors -- a five-judge SC bench held that the Maharashtra governor’s decision to order a floor test against the then CM Uddhav Thackeray was illegal. The judgement was made in May this year. A faction of the Shiv Sena under the leadership of Eknath Shinde had rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022. To deal with the situation, Thackeray issued 16 disqualification notices through the deputy speaker. However, the rebel MLAs then moved a no-confidence motion against the deputy speaker which was rejected based on lack of authenticity. Later, Thackeray resigned from his CM post even before the execution of the floor test ordered by the governor.

The SC in its judgement observed that even though the governor’s order for a floor test was illegal, Thackeray’s resignation couldn’t be reversed because it was voluntary.

Same-Sex marriage

A five-judge Supreme Court bench on October 17 announced its judgement in the Supriyo @ Supriya Chakraborty v Union of India, upheld the validity of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, and refused to legalise same-sex marriage. The SC bench held that the right to marry is not a fundamental right for queer persons.

The decision was delivered by a 3:2 majority and the SC observed that it is not within the court’s jurisdiction to recognise the right or compel Parliament to make a relevant law. However, the Centre was ordered to constitute a cabinet committee to look into the rights of homosexual couples in India.