Supreme Court moots dedicated afternoon slot to hear long-pending Constitution Bench matters

The Supreme Court on Wednesday suggested that it could hold daily two-hour sittings after lunch to take up long-pending seven-judge Constitution Bench references, while reserving the morning or pre-lunch session of the court for hearings in fresh and miscellaneous cases.

A discussion on the issue took place before the Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.

The Court noted that there were 29 pending Constitution Bench matters.

"There are 29 matters. Some may have become academic, but the legal issue may still survive," CJI Surya Kant observed orally.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing before the Bench, agreed with this assessment.

"The academic issue still remains because there are two contrary views. It will have to be settled," Sibal submitted.

"Precisely," replied the CJI.

He went on to propose that daily hearings of these matters for a part of the day could help in settling these long-pending cases.

"One possibility is to list these matters every day from 2 PM to 4 PM. We can hear them for two hours daily without allowing fresh matters to pile up," CJI Kant said.

Sibal suggested an alternative, where the Constitution Bench matters could be heard continuously across three days: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The CJI flagged a practical difficulty with this approach.

"That creates difficulty because routine, miscellaneous and fresh matters cannot then be taken up," he said.

Another counsel present added,

"The afternoon arrangement would maintain a balance, but restricting the hearing to two hours could prolong it. If heard continuously, Your Lordships can control the time ... If the matters are heard every afternoon, the Bench can continue for four or five days a week while taking fresh matters before lunch."

The CJI indicated the Court could examine these solutions on a trial basis.

"Both arrangements have their advantages. We can take up the first matter on a trial basis and see how it progresses. We will have to work it out," he said.

[Read Live Coverage]