Supreme Court has consistently not agreed to establishing its Benches outside Delhi: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju

The Supreme Court of India has consistently not agreed to proposals for setting up its Benches outside Delhi, the Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju told the parliament on Thursday..Rijiju was replying to a question in the Lok Sabha by Telugu Desam Party's Member of Parliament Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar regarding the pendency of cases before the Supreme Court and High Courts and about proposal for setting up four regional appellate courts to reduce the arrears in Constitutional courts.The Union Law Minister said that there have been demands from time to time to set up Benches of the Supreme Court in different parts of the country. "The Supreme Court has consistently not agreed for setting up benches of the Supreme Court outside Delhi," he stated in the reply. The reply further said that recommendation of setting up of Benches was referred to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) for consideration in 2007.The then CJI, in his letter dated August 12, 2007, said that after consideration of the matter, the full-Court in its meeting held on August 7, 2007 found no justification for deviating from earlier resolutions on the subject.Rijiju further highlighted that the 229th Law Commission had suggested that a Constitutional Bench be set up at Delhi and three Cassation Benches (apart from one in Delhi) be set up in Chennai/Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. The then CJI informed that after consideration of the matter, the full-Court in its meeting held on February 18, 2010, found no justification for the suggestion, Rijiju stated. Regarding High Courts, he stated that High Court Benches are established as per the recommendations made by the Jaswant Singh Commission and judgment pronounced by the Supreme Court in Federation Of Bar Associations In Karnataka vs. Union Of India."Requests for establishment of High Court Benches in places other than the Principal Seat of High Courts have been received from various organizations from time to time. However, at present there is no complete proposal pending with the Government," Riju added. The reply stated that there are 69,855 case pending before the top court as on December 6 this year, while 56,41,212 cases are pending before the High Courts as of December 10 this year. The response comes at a time when the Central government's senior most law officer, Attorney General for India KK Venugopal had said in a speech in November this year, that there should be four appellate courts for hearing appeals which cannot be challenged further, and the Supreme Court should only hear constitutional matters. "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 ... 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," AG Venugopal had said..[Read Law Minister's Reply].Supreme Court Regional Benches: A Private Member Bill by P Wilson, appeal by Bar Councils to CJI Ramana for Southern Bench revive debate.India needs four courts of appeal; Supreme Court should hear only Constitutional cases: Attorney General KK Venugopal