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Kalpana Mehta & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors.

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2018 INSC 470Decided 9 May 2018
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 558 of 2012
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

This judgment answers a referred question; it does not decide the writ petitions themselves. In petitions about HPV vaccine trials, the question arose whether a court can rely on a Parliamentary Standing Committee report.

Decision Breakdown

This is not a final judgment in the writ petitions. The Constitution Bench held that a court can take note of and rely on parliamentary committee reports as evidence of what they record, without this breaching parliamentary privilege, though the reports cannot be impugned in court. The petitions were sent back to the appropriate bench.

Lesson Learnt

Parliamentary committee reports can be used in court proceedings, but their correctness cannot be challenged there.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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