India needs four courts of appeal; Supreme Court should hear only Constitutional cases: Attorney General KK Venugopal

The Supreme Court of India's current role should be overhauled and it should be made a purely Constitutional court hearing only cases involving issues of Constitutional interpretation, Attorney General for India KK Venugopal said on Friday..In order to hear appeals from High Courts, tribunals and other matters which are currently heard by Supreme Court, four courts of appeal should be constituted, Venugopal opined."Most of common law countries there are intermediate court of appeals between Supreme Court and High Court; and those courts absorb all cases which takes up time of Supreme Court of India. There are no appeals from courts of appeals. We need four such courts with 15 judges each," the AG said.The Supreme Court's strength should then be brought down to 15 from the current 34 and it should sit in combination of three Constitution Benches hearing only Constitutional issues, he added."Pendency in Supreme Court will reduce then. For Supreme Court of India, it will not need these 34 judges. 15 judges sitting in 3 constitution benches of 5 judges each will be enough (once Courts of Appeal are established). Judges will be able to hear patiently and write excellent judgments," he said.Venugopal was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Constitution Day celebrations hosted by the Supreme Court at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The event was also attended by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. .Venugopal was prompted to make the remarks after noting the high pendency of cases before the top court and the delay involved in disposing of matters."One question that has been asked over 75 years is that is Supreme Court really a constitutional court? It has dealt with all cases from High Courts where there is an error or problem with the law.. We see pending criminal cases from 2008 and civil cases from 2009. If its pending here (Supreme Court) since then, it has been pending over decades in trial courts. So a total period of 30 years pass before justice is done," Venugopal said..Thirty years, he said, is not a reasonable time to decide any case and the time has come for the government and judiciary to put their heads together to find a solution. "Right to access justice is a fundamental right and this access has to be within reasonable cost and time. 30 years is not a reasonable time. There is no use to brush this thing under the carpet! Does one understand the problem a litigant suffers when he comes to trial court," he underscored."There is a need to rethink the (role of) Supreme Court of India. We have inherited an extremely cumbersome system. Cumbersome process has to be done away with," the AG added.Read about PM Narendra Modi's speech here.Read about CJI NV Ramana's speech here..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.