Hyderabad may get Supreme Court bench

By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad,Aug. 6: The Law Commission of India has in its latest report suggested setting up of four regional appellate benches of Supreme Court to help reduce the burden of the apex court and to cut the cost of litigants in the legal process.
The report recommends that while a Constitution Bench be set up at New Delhi, four Cassation Benches at four regions be created at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai or Hyderabad to deal with appellate work arising out of the orders and judgments of High Courts of the particular.
The report has cited “unbearable load of arrears” on the Supreme Court and has recommended division of the apex court into four Cassation Benches and a Constitution Bench. The Law Commission, headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan, submitted the report to the Law Ministry on Wednesday.
The report said SC is burdened with “unbearable load of arrears” and at the same time litigants too spend a lot of money travelling from far-flung areas to reach the national capital for hearings. It may also be pointed out that over 50,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court. Hence the need for more benches in various regions of the country.
A court of cassation is the judicial court of last resort and has power to quash (‘casser’ in French) decisions of the inferior courts. “Constitutional adjudication or determination of constitutional controversies by the Supreme Court has its own importance. This includes the authority to rule on whether or not laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional,” the Commission observed. It said many countries have constitutional as well as cassation courts for adjudication of non-constitutional matters.
A majority of advocates of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Bar have favoured the recommendation of Law Commission on the setting up of Cassation Benches of Supreme Court in four regions of the country.
This would reduce the burden on those filing petitions in terms of distance, cost and time. Senior counsel Challa Kodanda Ram said judges are hard-pressed for time particularly while exercising their power under Article 136 of Constitution relating to special leave petitions.
“Engaging a senior counsel in Delhi is beyond the reach of many litigants. At the lower end the fee charged is Rs 50,000 per appearance. The formation of additional benches at regional level will be quite helpful in terms of cost,” he said. The principal public prosecutor of the state, Mr C. Nageswara Rao, is of the view that the power of adjudication in major cases should rest with Supreme Court in Delhi, apart from dealing with Constitutional matters. He said these powers should not be allotted to additional benches.
However, some of the advocates favoured setting up of Supreme Court benches instead of Cassation benches