Constitutional Court like Supreme Court should not take up bail pleas, frivolous PILs: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said that a Constitutional court like the Supreme Court of India should not hear bail applications and frivolous Public Interest Litigation (PILs)..The Minister was speaking in the Rajya Sabha before the passing of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, which will rename the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre.Though the discussion was primarily on the Bill, the Minister addressed some queries raised by members.On questions regarding pendency in the judiciary, Rijiju underlined that the Supreme Court has close to 70,000 cases pending. He said that he has appealed to the Court, as a good gesture, to take up those cases which are relevant and which are appropriate to take up."If Supreme Court of India starts hearing bail applications, if Supreme Court of India starts hearing all frivolous PILs, definitely it will cause lots of extra burden on the Honourable Court itself, because Supreme Court by and large is treated as a Constitutional court," he said..Further, underlining that more than 4.25 crore cases are pending in lower courts in India, he requested the judiciary to ensure that "deserving people" are given justice and that "unnecessary burdens" are also taken care of."More than 4.25 crore cases are pending in the lower courts where Government of India has a stake. We give money support to create better infrastructure, but we have to also ask the judiciary that please ensure that the deserving people are given justice and those unnecessary burdens are also taken care of that they don't cause disturbances while the court is functioning or court is discharging its duties," he stated..The Minister also addressed requests by Members of Parliament (MPs) to change the names of High Courts named after cities. He said,"There are some High Courts which are named after cities, there are some High Courts which are named after the State. So, there are variations and I will definitely have a discussion with the honourable judges."Notably, he also claimed that the budgetary allocation and proactive support to the judiciary is indisputable."Presently under the leadership of Modi-ji, the budgetary allocation, the proactive support to judiciary, this is very well known. No court in India can say that they are wanting the support of the Government of India, especially for infrastructure," he said..[Read Wednesday's developments from Parliament here]