On 17 August, before it broke for a long weekend of four days, a three-judge Supreme Court (SC) bench of justices Ranjan Gogoi, Prafulla Chandra Pant and AM Khanwilkar referred a challenge to its immunity from the Right to Information (RTI) Act to a five-judge constitution bench. The decision, made after a brief hearing, was a surprise as well as a disappointment.

Justices Abhay Manohar Sapre, R Banumathi and Prafulla Chandra Pant, together with former senior counsel UU Lalit today took up their post as Supreme Court judges to take the bench strength of the apex court up to 30 out of 31 sanctioned judges. PTI