The many cases pending before constitutional benches of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has finally constituted a larger bench to examine the privacy controversy surrounding Aadhaar, almost two years after it decided to do so.
The delay has drawn strong criticism but it also highlights structural problems in the apex court that lead to such a delay.
A constitution bench which looks into specific cases that require interpretation of the Constitution must consist a minimum of five judges.
However, the Supreme Court has not functioned at its full capacity of 31 judges in a while. The court sits in benches of two or occasionally three judges to hear the large number of cases before it and the functioning of the rest of the court is hampered when a larger bench sits.
At present, 40 constitution bench cases are pending in the Supreme Court, many of them of high significance. ThePrint examines 23 of these cases to see what is at stake.
