To bring close the judicial system of the country, Vice President has suggested to set up Benches of Supreme Court in Chennai and different parts of the country. He said at least in 4 metropolitan cities, the benches of Supreme Court should be set up because common people from remote areas have to travel a lot if their matter goes to Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court there are approx 60,000 cases pending and in High Courts there are approx 44,00,000 cases pending. Vice President said that we should reduce this number by set up of Benches of Supreme court.
Why reform is required ?
We are the largest democracy of the world. Judiciary is considered to be the 3rd pillar of Democracy.
The faith of common people in the essential element of this. In a Justice delivery system where Judgements are pronounced late, this will shake the confidence of common people sooner or later.
In Supreme Court, Monday and Friday is miscellaneous day. It takes 1 or 2 minutes to admit or dismiss the case. The time from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM is time limit in which judges have of the Supreme Court either have to admit or dismiss the case.
In this situation suppose a person from Kerala has come in hope of justice, he had fought in District Court then High Court then he came to Supreme Court, what he sees in that one minute either his case will be admitted or dismissed. This raises question mark on his faith on Judicial System.
Supreme Court has its own limitations. There are less number of Judges, number of cases are high.
How Justice can be delivered on the door step of common people ?
To improve the Justice delivery system we have to analyse the motive behind the establishment of Supreme Court.
Supreme Court was not set up for matrimonial disputes or rent disputes between 2 parties. Supreme Court was established for totally different purpose. It has various jurisdiction like original jurisdiction. Example: if there is dispute between Centre or State, or between two states then matter will go to Supreme Court. Under Article 129 it has jurisdiction regarding contempt. Under Article 143 it has advisory jurisdiction.
It can be said that Supreme Court has invited problems by misusing Article 136 which is Special Leave Petition (SLP). Under Article 136 any matter in any court whether it is district court or any tribunal can be transferred directly to the Supreme Court on the discretion of the Supreme Court. Supreme Court has treated Article 136 as routine. This is the root cause because advocate suggests to go Supreme Court under Article 136. This has increased the number of litigations in the Supreme Court.
WAY FORWARD: There is only one Supreme Court in every Country. Likewise, India should also have one Supreme Court. Its benches are not required. But there should be Court Of Appeal in four parts of the country i.e., east, west, north, south. This Court Of Appeal will have the final adjudicating power after High Court. The matter will go to the Supreme Court only when any Constitutional Violations is involved or any matter which comes under the Original Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
