Establishment of Supreme Court Bench Outside Delhi has not Found Favour with Supreme Court, says Law Ministry

The Law Ministry has announced the establishment of the Supreme Court Bench outside Delhi has not found Favour with the Supreme Court.

The Eleventh Law Commission in its 125th Report titled “The Supreme Court – A Fresh Look”, submitted in 1988, reiterated the recommendations made by Tenth Law Commission in its 95th Report for splitting the Supreme Court into two namely (i) Constitutional Court at Delhi and (ii) Court of Appeal or Federal Court sitting in North, South, East, West and Central India. The Law Commission opined that this will reduce the distance traveled and the cost borne by the litigants. The recommendations of the Law Commission’s 95th and 125th Report are available on the Law Commission of India website https://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/.

The Eighteenth Law Commission in its 229th Report had also suggested that a Constitutional Bench be set up at Delhi and four Cassation Benches be set up in the Northern region at Delhi, Southern region at Chennai/Hyderabad, Eastern region at Kolkata, and the Western region at Mumbai. Their commendations of the Law Commission’s 229th Report is available on the Law Commission of India website https://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/.

“The matter was referred to the Chief Justice of India, who was informed that after consideration of the matter, the Full Court in its meeting held on 18th February 2010, found no justification for setting up benches of the Supreme Court outside Delhi,” the government said.

In Writ Petition WP(C) No. 36/2016 on the establishment of the National Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court vide its judgment dated 13.07.2016 deemed it proper to refer the aforementioned issue to Constitutional Bench for authoritative pronouncement. The matter is subjudice before the Supreme Court.

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