Establishment Of Permanent Regional Benches Of Supreme Court: Rajya Sabha Member P Wilson Moves Private Member Bill

Rajya Sabha Member and senior lawyer P Wilson has introduced a Private Member Bill termed as the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that seeks to establish 4 Permanent Regional Benches of the Supreme Court in a bid to decentralise the Supreme Court. 

In a similar development, recently a delegation of top officials from the Bar Councils of five southern States i.e. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala met with Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday to give a representation for the creation of a Supreme Court Bench in South India. 

Rajya Sabha Member P Wilson has always been a staunch advocate for setting up regional Supreme Court Benches in the country. On December 16 2020, he had addressed a letter to the then Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking the establishment of such permanent regional Benches of the Supreme Court. "Access to Justice is not the preserve of the rich, but the right of every person in this great nation", Wilson had mentioned in his letter. 

The Rajya Sabha Member has again raised similar concerns through the introduction of the aforementioned Bill. As per the revised list of Business for July 23, the Bill was slated to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha last Friday, but was not taken up on the said day. 

The Statement of Objects and Reasons for the Bill outline various concerns that necessitate the establishment of such Permanent Regional Benches. The Bill states that at present access to the Supreme Court is restricted to only those with the economic means to travel to Delhi and afford a lawyer in Delhi. Therefore, a person who cannot afford to go to Delhi, or afford the fees of the lawyers at Delhi, which is invariably high due to demand, is left without an appellate remedy.

"For decades now, there has been a widespread demand from various quarters for the establishment of Permanent Regional Benches of the Supreme Court. Many representations have been made from various Bar Associations and litigants from across the country. The people's representatives in Parliament have also often raised this issue of Permanent Regional Benches of Supreme Court. The Standing Committees of Parliament recommended the setting up of Regional benches of Supreme Court in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The Law Commission in its Report No. 229 dated 05.08.2009 to the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India has also emphasised the need for the establishment of "Cassation Benches" of Supreme Court at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata," the Statement reads further.

Opining on how the establishment of such Permanent Regional Benches would also increase the strength of the Supreme Court, the Bill states that at present there are only 34 Judges for a country with a population of 133 crores.

"Presently, the ratio of number of Supreme Court Judges to the population of the country is miniscule", the Bill stipulates.

Highlights of the Bill:

• The Bill proposes to amend Article 130 of the Constitution so as to constitute a total of 5 Supreme Court Benches- one Bench at New Delhi which shall hear Constitutional cases (Constitution Bench) and 4 other Permanent Regional Benches for the northern, southern, eastern and western regions of the country which shall sit at New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai respectively.

• The Constitution Bench at New Delhi shall exclusively hear cases which are of Constitutional importance. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) shall have the exclusive power to determine which case is to be classified as a case of Constitutional importance.

• The Permanent Regional Benches of the Supreme Court shall exercise the full jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India, except over cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench.

• The Northern Regional Bench of the Supreme Court at New Delhi shall deal with all cases (except cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench) arising out States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Delhi and Chandigarh.

• The Southern Regional Bench of the Supreme Court at Chennai shall deal with all cases (except cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench) arising out the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and the Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshwadeep.

• The Eastern Regional Bench of the Supreme Court at Kolkata shall hear all cases (except cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench) arising out of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• The Western Regional Bench of the Supreme Court at Mumbai shall deal with all cases (except cases to be heard by the Constitution Bench) arising out of the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

• The Chief Justice of India may, in the interest of administrative justice, transfer any case pending before any Permanent Regional Bench to any other Permanent Regional Bench or the Constitution Bench.

• When cases involving the same substantial question of law or the same subject matter are pending before two or more regional benches, the Chief Justice of India may direct that all such cases be heard by any one of the Regional Benches.

• The Chief Justice of India shall nominate judges of the Supreme Court to sit at the Constitution Bench and the Permanent Benches of the Supreme Court. However, the CJI shall not nominate less than 6 Judges of Supreme Court in each of the Permanent Regional Benches.

• While nominating judges the Permanent Regional Benches, the Chief Justice of India shall give preference to judges whose parent High Court or erstwhile place of practice or resident prior to appointment as judge is within the territorial jurisdiction of that Permanent Regional Bench.

• Nothing shall prevent the Chief Justice of India from nominating any Judge of the Supreme Court to the Constitution Bench or any of the Permanent Regional Benches on the basis of seniority or if it is otherwise necessary to do so in the interest of administration of justice.