Establish National Court For Appeal With Four Benches Across India, SC Should Be A Constitutional Court: K K Venugopal

Attorney General K K Venugopal on Thursday recommended setting up a National Court of Appeal, separate from the Supreme Court (SC), to hear the appeals from the lower courts. The SC, then, would function as a constitutional court, dealing only with the issues of national and constitutional importance.

The attorney general was speaking on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution at an online event organised by the Supreme Court. President Ram Nath Kovind, Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were also in attendance.

Constitution Day, which commemorates the adoption of the Constitution in 1949.

Venugopal said that the Court of Appeal could have four benches — north, south, east and west — having 15 judges at par with the SC judges.

The suggestion comes in the light of the prospect of high burden on the court as it resumes normal functioning after the pandemic.

“This will require a constitutional amendment. This will leave Supreme Court with a pendency of only 2,000-3,000 cases a year as compared to present figure of 60-70,000. It will allow top court judges more time to patiently read and write judgments, as currently they sit till midnight reading case files listed for next day,” Venugopal was quoted as saying by HT.

He cited a Yale University research that most cases filed in Supreme Court are from north India.

CJI Bobde also acknowledged that huge pendency will arise when the pandemic ceases. He said that the judiciary displayed resilience in the face of the crisis as the Supreme Court did not lock down even for a single day.

President Kovind talked about improving the access to justice, with two major hurdles being language and the cost of litigation.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad complimented the judiciary for administering justice despite all the odds and said the judiciary’s biggest asset was public trust.