Is a test needed to filter Article 32 petitions? Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S Oka

Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S Oka on Monday mooted having a debate and discussion with stakeholders to decide whether a test needs to be laid down to determine when the Supreme Court can entertain petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. .Article 32 enables citizens to directly approach the Supreme Court for the enforcement of fundamental rights envisaged in the Constitution. Justice Oka conceded that a large number of such cases were being filed before the Supreme Court today, forcing the Court to ask many of such petitioners to first approach the concerned High Courts.He said that high case pendency was the deterring the Supreme Court from entertaining all such petitions."There are businessmen also who come with a big team of lawyers consuming time of court and arguing that Article 19(1)(g) is violated. Then how do we bring equality between the common convict and the businessman? Should there be some test laid down which say that only if these tests are adhered to then Article 32 can be invoked? Thus, this is a debatable topic as to if such a test can be laid down and restrict its own power. We must invite a debate on the enforcement of fundamental rights by our court and how far have we been successful in this," he said..Justice Oka was delivering the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture on the topic, 'Article 32: History and the Future.'The lecture was hosted by The Leaflet in association with the Society for Constitution and Social Democracy. Supreme Court judge Justice BR Gavai and Senior Counsel Indira Jaising also spoke at the event..Justice Oka in his address called for debates on constitutional subjects, as well as constructive criticism of the judiciary.Pertinently, he spoke of how the Supreme Court discourages Article 32 petitions, given its mounting case arrears."Some may argue that the Supreme Court should entertain all Article 32 pleas without sending them to the High Courts. But we are not living in an ideal world. If there was no pendency of cases, then the scene would have been different. There are 80,000 cases pending in the Supreme Court. We are not only a constitutional court but also an appellate court ... when we have mounting arrears we need to fix our priorities," he opined. On the question of whether there should be a dedicated Bench to hear such cases, Justice Oka said that a decision on the same has to be taken by the Chief Justice of India."I had only one answer. This question has to be before the master of roster and no one else."In response to a question on whether a polyvocal Supreme Court can have a standard way of disposing of personal liberty petitions, he welcomed multiple views among the Bench. "We need such diversity when it comes to judicial views. AK Gopalan was corrected, and ADM Jabalpur too was corrected. And today we say something and later it can be corrected. Law is not mathematics which is 2 plus 2 = 4.".Read about Justice Gavai's speech at the event here..[Follow our live-coverage of the event].Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.