SC does U-turn, admits plea for Court of Appeal

SC does U-turn, admits plea for Court of Appeal

The Supreme Court has admitted a Chennai lawyer’s petition for setting up a National Court of Appeal with regional benches to act as the final courts of justice in criminal and civil cases.

• With this, the court has questioned the past views of its own Chief Justices of India about bifurcation of judicial powers and a government order in 2014 that such a court of appeal is constitutionally impermissible.

Details:
The proposed court is meant to act as final arbiter of appeals against decisions of the High Courts and tribunals in civil, criminal, labour and revenue cases.
Background:
This plea was previously rejected by the centre. The lawyer had approached the Union Ministry for Law and Justice with his proposal after the Supreme Court asked the government to hear him out through a judicial order on October 10, 2014.
In its order, the Ministry cited three grounds for rejecting the idea —

1. The Supreme Court always sits in Delhi as per the Constitution.
2. The Chief Justices of India in the past have consistently opposed the idea of a National Court of Appeal or regional Benches to the Supreme Court.
3. A National Court of Appeal would require an amendment in Article 130 of the Constitution of India which is impermissible as this would change the Constitution of the Supreme Court completely.

What the petitioner says?
The petitioner submits that establishment of a ‘National Court of Appeal’ as suggested in the case of Bihar Legal Support Society would rectify the inequality in the state of affairs in as much as the said National Court of Appeal would have benches in all possible regions of the country.

• This would also considerably reduce the cost of litigation and would enable the litigants to have the services of the lawyer who appeared for them before the High Court.
• The petitioner also argues that the Supreme Court was never intended to be a regular court of appeal against orders made by the high court or the sessions court or the magistrates. It was created as an apex court for the purpose of laying down the law for the entire country.

However, legal experts feel that setting up of regional benches will dilute the constitutional superiority of the Supreme Court.