The Supreme Court on Friday clubbed and transferred to itself all petitions pending before different High Courts seeking registration of same-sex marriages by authorities. A Bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala asked the Centre to file a joint reply to the petitions by February 15 and directed their listing on March 13.
The Bench said any petitioner, if not available to argue physically before the court or unable to engage a counsel or to travel to Delhi, can avail the facility of a virtual platform to join the hearing. The top court asked the registry to provide links for virtual hearing to all parties who wish to address the court. During the arguments, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench since a petition is ripe for hearing before the Delhi High Court, the top court could either await its verdict or transfer all the petitions to itself. The counsel for multiple petitioners told the bench they want the SC to transfer all the cases to itself for an authoritative pronouncement on the issue and that the Centre can file its response to it. At present, Delhi, Kerala, Gujarat HC are seized with many petitions from LGBT community on the issue.