New Delhi:- CJP leader Saurav Das told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the organisation has withdrawn its call to hold a protest on September 5. Das read out a statement before a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, following which Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the government is committed to the assurances given to CJP leaders in July, when they withdrew their 36-day protest over alleged irregularities in NEET and other examinations.
Mehta said that the Centre and the governments of Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam are ready to withdraw cases against the protesters, except those individuals whose names are already involved in cases related to offences.
The Solicitor General appealed to the Supreme Court to exercise its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and direct that the cases against the protesters be considered closed.
Mehta also said that the government will prepare a framework within three months for payment of compensation to the families of students who died by suicide. The Centre had on Monday appealed to the Supreme Court to use its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to quash the FIRs registered against student protesters.
Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass any order necessary to ensure “complete justice” in any matter pending before it. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had mentioned the matter before the three-member bench headed by CJI Surya Kant on Monday, just before the court rose.
Mehta told the bench, “We want to file an IA (Interlocutory Appeal). It is about that protest... to quash the FIRs... we are invoking Article 142,” and sought an urgent hearing of the matter on Tuesday.
The CJI agreed to hear the matter on Tuesday, saying, “Okay, you file it. If the parties are settling, we have no difficulty.”
The development came at a time when CJP had accused the Centre of failing to fulfil the assurances given on July 25 to persuade it to withdraw its 36-day agitation over alleged irregularities in NEET and other examinations.