The Centre on Saturday defended in the Supreme Court the penal law on sedition and the 1962 verdict of a constitution bench upholding its validity, saying they have withstood "the test of time" about six decades and the instances of its abuse would never be a justification of reconsideration. A bench of three judges comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, on May 5, said that it would hear arguments on May 10 on the legal question of whether the pleas challenging the colonial-era penal law on sedition be referred to a larger bench for reconsidering the 1962 verdict of a five-judge constitution bench in the Kedar Nath Singh case.

"Instances of the abuse of provision would never be a justification to reconsider a binding judgment of the constitution bench. The remedy would lie in preventing such abuse on a case-to-case basis rather than doubting a long-standing settled law declared by a constitution bench for about six decades," said the 38-page written submission filed through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The reply also raised the issue of corum and opposed the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal that in a changed fact situation a bench of three judges can also test the validity of the sedition law, saying 'no reference, therefore, would be necessary nor can the three-judge bench once again examine the constitutional validity of the very same provision".