Agnipath scheme: Supreme Court transfers petitions before it to Delhi High Court

The Supreme Court said the other High Courts could either transfer similar cases, with the permission of the petitioners, to Delhi or keep them pending there and allow the petitioners to intervene in the proceedings in Delhi.

Noting that multiple litigation on the Agnipath scheme is "neither desirable nor proper", the Supreme Court on Tuesday made the Delhi High Court the core forum to examine the question of legality of the recruitment scheme to the Armed Forces.

The top court transferred petitions on Agnipath before it to the Delhi High Court. It said the considered view of a High Court in the case was essential. The jurisdiction of the High Courts should not lose significance.

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A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said usually the petitioners would have had to withdraw their cases from the Supreme Court and approach the Delhi High Court on their own. However, this time the Bench went the extra mile to transfer the cases to the Delhi High Court by itself and ensure they get numbered and readied for hearing there.

"We want to avoid delay," the Bench noted.

Similar petitions, either challenging Agnipath or seeking directions to the Centre and the Armed Forces to complete the recruitment processes initiated before the scheme, were pending in various High Courts, it further noted.

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