In a rare move, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the manner in which the land acquisition ordinance was repromulgated by the NDA government.

A bench headed by Justice JS Khehar while issuing notice to the Centre on the issue declined to stay the operation of the ordinance, saying it would first want to examine the stand of the government. It sought the government’s stand on a plea to “hand over” all records leading to the re-promulgation. Notices were issued to the ministries of law, parliamentary affairs, home affairs, Cabinet Secretariat, and rural development.

“Let us first see what they (government) have to say. We can also decide on calling for records then,” the bench told senior advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for the farmer organisations.

However, the bench told Jaising, appearing for the farmers, that there is a possibility that the petition may become infructuous “in a little while,” hinting at the probability that the Rajya Sabha, once it reconvenes on April 23, may pass the land Bill. The court also rejected Jaising’s request for an urgent hearing and gave the government four weeks to reply. The four farmers’ organisations — Bharatiya Kishan Union, Delhi Grameen Samaj, Gram Sewa Samiti and Chogama Vikas Avam — had challenged the constitutional validity of the Narendra Modi-led government’s action to repromulgate the land acquisition ordinance. They said the action of the government in re-promulgating the ordinance on April 3 was malafide, thus open to challenge.

Stating that “Ordinance Raj” is impermissible, they not only sought quashing of the repromulgated land ordinance of 2015 on the grounds of it being ultra vires of the Constitution but also want the SC to restrain the government from enforcing it. The repromulgation of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, amounted to the executive entering the impermissible domain of enacting legislation, they said.

According to the NGOs, the impugned Ordinance “is a text book example of blatant abuse of the powers” vested under Article 123 of the Constitution.