India, April 4 -- The Supreme Court on Saturday formally notified the constitution of a nine-judge bench to hear the long-pending Kerala's Sabarimala temple review, reviving a constitutional controversy that has remained in cold storage for six years and could reshape the court's approach to religion-rights conflicts.

The bench will comprise chief justice of India Surya Kant and justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, A G Masih, R Mahadevan, Prasanna B Varale and Joymalya Bagchi.

The batch of matters arising out of the review of the 2018 verdict allowing entry of women of all ages into Sabarimala temple was last substantively taken up in February 2020. It will now be heard from April 7, with arguments...