Supreme Court Weekly Round Up [January 26-February 1, 2026]

1. [Voter Deletion remarks] The Supreme Court said that it would hear the plea filed against the criminal defamation case against former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena and Arvind Kejriwal over their remarks alleging large-scale deletion of voters’ names from the electoral rolls in the national capital in April 2026. In August 2025, a Bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice NK Singh had scheduled the matter for final hearing on a non-miscellaneous day. The matter will now be heard on April 21, 2026.
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2. [Mahakal Temple] The Supreme Court allowed withdrawal of a petition filed before it challenging the “VIP Darshan” culture at the Shri Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain. A CJI Surya Kant led bench allowed Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain to withdraw the plea stating that the temple’s managing committee, constituted under the Shri Mahakaleshwar Adhiniyam, 1982, has no statutory authority to create a separate class of “VIP” devotees. Court was told that allowing persons in the garba griha of the temple should be based on a uniform policy and not on the basis of their VIP status. To this the CJI said, "We cannot regulate who is allowed inside the temple and who is not allowed inside..this is for the authority to decide."
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3. [State Bar Elections] The Supreme Court objected to the Bar Council of India denying the honorarium to the High Powered Election Monitoring Committees (HPEMCs) set up at regional levels and a pan-India High Powered Supervisory Committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia for supervising the State Bar Council elections 2026. "You fixed the election fee on the ground that it will generate sufficient funds for conducting elections. Now you are telling retired judges you can't pay them honorarium, you can't pay travel allowances. What they will do? Do they have their own aircraft?", CJI Surya Kant asked.
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4. [Judicial vacancy] The Supreme Court refused to entertain a petition seeking to direct the Union of India and State Governments to implement the specific directions passed by the Supreme Court itself in cases of ‘Imtiyaz Ahmad Vs. State of U.P. and others’ and All India Judges Association and frame a time-bound National Judicial Manpower Plan to achieve 50 judges per million population. A CJI Surya Kant led bench refused the plea which also sought the National Court Management Systems Committee (NCMSC) to formulate a scientific method for determining the basis for computing the required number of judges for the High Court and the Supreme Court of India on urgent basis in addition to the required number of judges in the District Courts on an ongoing basis every 5 years.
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5. [Acid Attacks] The Supreme Court has mulled over selling assets of acid attack accused to provide compensation to victims, highlighting the need for more effective financial rehabilitation of the survivors. CJI Surya Kant led bench has said that states must ensure better implementation of compensation, noting that existing amounts are insufficient for lifelong treatment and rehabilitation. As court was hearing a PIL by acid-attack survivor Shaheen Malik, CJI Kant said the court will make sure that she gets the best lawyer to fight her case in the high court. This assurance came as the survivor told the court that "all accused had been acquitted by a lower court".
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6. [Thegalai-Vadagalai Dispute] The Supreme Court appointed retired Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, as a mediator to resolve the long-standing dispute between the Thengalai and Vadagalai Vaishnavite sects over the ceremonial worship at Sri Devaraja Swamy Temple in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi has asked Justice Kaul to engage two more persons conversant with the temple traditions to held him in settlement of the dispute. In December 2025 the Madras High Court had reaffirmed that only the Thengalai sect’s mantram, prabandham and Vazhi Thirunamam may be rendered during puja and processions at Sri Devarajaswamy Temple, Kancheepuram. Court directed the Executive Trustee to enforce this mandate strictly in line with the century-old decrees and to seek police assistance whenever required, with the police directed to provide immediate protection on request.
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7. [Air India Crash] The Supreme Court said that it would give a short date for hearing the seeking an independent, court-monitored investigation into the Air India plane crash at Ahmedabad on June 12, which claimed 260 lives. Advocate Prashant Bhushan informed a CJI Surya Kant led bench that the Centre and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) had not filed their responses. Hearing this, CJI Kant said, "We will hear it after the SIR matter...will give a short date". The petition, filed by Safety Matters Foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting aviation safety, raises grave concerns over the selective and incomplete disclosures made by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) in its preliminary report.
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8. [Remarks against Justice GR Swaminathan] The Supreme Court sought the Tamil Nadu government's response to a PIL filed over the derogatory remarks made against Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madras High Court after his orders in the Karthigai Deepam matter. A Bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice PB Varale has sought a status report from the State of Tamil Nadu. The plea seeks legal and police actions including registration of FIR against individual, advocates and other social political party, association or body made hate speech, scandalize remarks, defamatory campaigns, threats to the judges and conducting illegal unlawful demonstration protest or agitation in public places and in front of the Madras/Madurai High Court & other District Courts premises, and direct them to submit status report and enforce protections for judicial independence.
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9. [Stray Dogs] The Supreme Court while hearing the suo motu case initiated over stray dogs remarked that Goa and Kerala tourist was getting affected due to the presence of stray dogs on their beaches. As a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and NV Anjaria was hearing the matter, Justice Mehta said that stray dogs are attracted to beaches due to the presence of carcasses of fish. "That affects tourism also," Justice Mehta added. Notably, Senior Advocate Gaurav Aggarwal who is assisting the court as Amicus Curiae told the Bench that stray dogs picked up from beaches cannot be released back there.
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10. [Tamil Nadu SIR] The Supreme Court has asked the Election Commission of India to publish names of people against whom a "logical discrepancy" objection has been raised during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu. A CJI Surya Kant led bench has directed that "the names of those who appear are allowed to submit documents in person or through authorised representatives within 10 days from displaying the list of logical discrepancy list which will also contain brief reason of discrepancy." Earlier, Supreme Court had issued a set of directions to ease the pressure on Booth Level Officers (BLOs) engaged in the Special Summary Revision (SIR) process in Tamil Nadu, after observing that several state employees were facing “extreme difficulties” while being deployed for election-related duties.
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11. [Sonam Wangchuk] Sonam Wangchuk before Supreme Court denied allegations of inciting an “Arab Spring” or attempting to overthrow the government. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Wangchuk's wife Gitanjali Angmo, told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and PB Varale that police relied on a selective video. "Look at the video. What he says is if the government of India will not give statehood, he will overthrow the government like the Arab Spring. He does not say so. I will give the transcript," Sibal submitted. Sibal also refuted the allegation that Wangchuk said the people of Ladakh would not help the Indian Army if the government did not provide statehood.
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12. [Munambam Waqf Land Grab] The Supreme Court has granted three weeks time for filing a counter affidavit in the Special Leave petition filed against the Kerala High Court's verdict which held the Kerala State Waqf Board unilaterally notifying 404 acres of coastal land in Munambam, Ernakulam, as Waqf property as a “land-grabbing tactic”. A bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Manmohan has listed the case now after three weeks while extending the stay it earlier granted on the High Court's declaration that the Munambam land is not Waqf.
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13. [UGC Regulations 2026] The Supreme Court of India on January 29 stayed the operation of the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, notified on January 13, observing that the newly notified rules appear vague and capable of misuse. The Court has said that several substantial constitutional and legal questions arise from the framework of the Regulations and require detailed judicial examination. The interim order was passed in a batch of three petitions challenging the validity of the Regulations. The petitions have been filed by Mritunjay Tiwari, Advocate Vineet Jindal, and Rahul Dewan. The petitioners argue that the 2026 Regulations dilute existing safeguards against discrimination by narrowing the definition of caste-based discrimination and restructuring grievance redressal mechanisms in a manner that allegedly disadvantages students from the general category.
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14. [Stem Cell Therapy] In a significant judgment on medical ethics and experimental therapies, the Supreme Court held that administering stem cell therapy for therapeutic use in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) cannot be justified as a permissible clinical service merely because stem cells are classified as “drugs” under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The Court clarified that classification under the Drugs Act does not automatically make a treatment clinically acceptable. Delivering the judgment, Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan emphasised that medical practitioners are bound by the duty to exercise a reasonable standard of care, skill and knowledge expected of a prudent professional in the field.
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15. [Savukku Shankar] The Supreme Court declined to interfere with the bail conditions imposed by the Madras High Court on YouTuber and journalist Savukku Shankar, while hearing his plea challenging restrictions attached to his interim bail in a case involving allegations of assault and extortion raised by a film producer. The Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma refused to entertain Shankar’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) seeking modification of the conditions, observing that he had misused the liberty granted to him.
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16. [Menstrual Health] The Supreme Court delivered its judgment on the pan-India implementation of the Centre’s Menstrual Hygiene Policy for school-going girls in government and government-aided schools, with the Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan indicating that menstrual health lies at the intersection of dignity, privacy, equality and the right to education. The Bench emphasised that constitutional rights cannot remain abstract guarantees and must translate into lived realities. It noted that barriers to menstrual hygiene management operate at multiple levels, including institutional, systemic and socio-cultural, and that the State carries an affirmative obligation to address structural disadvantages that prevent girls from fully accessing education. The Court also placed menstrual hygiene within the dignity framework under Article 21, observing that dignity manifests in conditions that allow individuals to live without humiliation, exclusion or avoidable suffering.
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17. [Trade Unions] The Supreme Court on has on January 29, refused to entertain a public interest litigation seeking welfare measures for domestic workers, including their inclusion under minimum wages notifications, with Chief Justice of India Surya Kant making sharp observations on trade unionism, labour regulation, and the unintended consequences of judicially enforced reforms. The Bench Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Penn Thozhilargal Sangam and other trade unions, which sought directions to the Union and States to frame welfare schemes for domestic workers and extend statutory minimum wages to them.
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18. [Jana Nayagan] The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court in connection with the certification dispute surrounding actor Vijay’s upcoming film Jana Nayagan, directed by H Vinoth. The caveat seeks to ensure that no orders are passed by the Apex Court without hearing the censor board. The development comes amid expectations that the film’s producer, KVN Productions, may approach the Supreme Court challenging a recent Madras High Court Division Bench order that stayed a single judge’s direction to grant the film a UA certificate.
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