New Delhi, May 11 (). The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on the petitions seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.
After hearing the matter for 10 days, Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice S.K. Kaul, S.R. Bhat, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha’s bench reserved the judgement.
The apex court on Thursday asked senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, Raju Ramachandran, K.V. Vishwanathan, Anand Grover and Saurabh Kripal, who represented the petitioners.
The Center on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it may not be the right move to indicate that the court is likely to announce something less than the present status of the marriage.
It asserted that the legislature has the means to control the outcome and that the court will not be able to see, envisage, understand and then deal with the consequences of that declaration.
The apex court said that the form, content and contours of the declaration are important, we are all of the view that the declaration will be in the form of a writ which grants it.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, had said that the bench had indicated the possibility of an announcement being a little less than the wedding, but a little more than the current situation.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, assisting the court in the debate on the issue of same-sex marriage, on Tuesday countered the contention of the petitioners that since Parliament will not do anything about their right to marry, the top court should issue a constitutional declaration. Should do They should be forced to enact a law giving legal sanction to their marriages.
The bench said that given that in the past Parliament has enacted laws to comply with constitutional declarations, it may not be correct to say that the apex court cannot issue constitutional declarations.
The Center on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that seven states have responded on the issue of same-sex marriage. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Assam have opposed the plea of the petitioners to give legal sanction to such marriages.
Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Sikkim have stated that the issue requires a very thorough and detailed debate and these state governments cannot submit their response immediately.
SGK/ANM
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