Recognising the right of same-sex marriage beyond judicial purview: Centre to SC

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice P S Narsimha, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice S Narsimha will be hearing the batch of petitions on April 18 regarding same sex marriages.

Centre perpetuated that the petitions before the Apex Court reflect urban “elitist views” for the purpose of social acceptance.

Centre submitted the detailed application stating that, “A decision by the court in recognizing the right of same sex marriage would mean a virtual judicial rewriting of an entire branch of law. The court must refrain from passing such omnibus orders. Proper authority for the same is appropriate legislature. Given the fundamental social origin of these laws, any change in order to be legitimate would have to come from the bottom up and through legislation a change cannot be compelled by judicial fiat and the best judge of the pace of change is the legislature itself”.

The application, while hinging on basic Constitutional principles further stated that, “Any encroachment on the legislative powers solely reserved for the elected representatives would be against the well-settled principles of ‘separation of powers’ which is held to be a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. Any such deviation from the concept of separation of powers would be thus, contrary to constitutional morality.”

The matter is scheduled to hear on April 18.