Anushka Sharma –
Published On: November 27, 2021 at 12:30 IST
On Constitution Day, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal argued in front of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana for the renewal of an 11-year-old plan to establish National Courts of Appeal in four regions of the Country.
He proposed that four ‘Courts of Appeal,’ each with 15 justices, serve as intermediate appellate Courts between the State High Courts and the Supreme Court. They would take on Divorce conflicts, rent control cases, and other matters that currently clutter the Supreme Court and add to the backlog. He stated that the decisions of these Appellate Courts will be final.
The Supreme Court would be freed up to focus on evaluating constitutional questions of Law, references, and death penalty cases. With more time on their hands, Supreme Court judges might hear cases more leisurely, study and write better judgements, Mr. Venugopal stated at an event organised by the Supreme Court to celebrate the Constitution Day.
“These Courts would also mean we are adding 60 judges who would be taking over these cases. Pendency would be cut down to a very great extent. Cases could be disposed of in three or four years’ time,” Mr. Venugopal explained on Friday.
In fact, the Supreme Court would not need 34 Judges. Just 15 would be ample. These judges of the Supreme Court could sit in three Constitution Benches.
Starting his speech with the question “Is the Supreme Court truly a Constitutional Court?’ Mr. Venugopal said it would need a “very, very bold person” to start litigation.
He claimed that matters in the Supreme Court have been lingering for ten years. It would have spent a decade in each of the trial and appellate Courts before reaching the Supreme Court.
“A person does not even know when his case would conclude and whether he would be alive to see the fruits of the litigation he had started,” Mr. Venugopal said.