SC's Constitution bench to look into court of appeal issue

A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court may examine the issue of setting up National Court of Appeal with benches at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and the northern region to declog the apex court from 80% routine cases.

Hearing a PIL by lawyer V Vasanthakumar, a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur on Wednesday asked Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi  to look into the issues formulated by Senior Advocate K K Venugopal as amicus curiae.

Among the questions framed by Venugopal is if it would not satisfy the requirement of “access to justice” to all litigants across the country. Such division of the exclusive jurisdiction between the SC and the National Court of Appeal would enhance the justice delivery system without affecting independence of judicial wing of the state, he contended.

Any such proposal would need an amendment to the Constitution and would it lead to violation of the “basic structure” theory, stated another question framed by the eminent lawyer.