GUWAHATI: The Government of India has accepted the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to establish regional benches of the Supreme Court throughout the country, as per reports by Live Law.
The Union Law Ministry accepted the recommendation made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice and assented to the establishment of regional benches of the Supreme Court throughout India and to publish annual reports of all the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee presented the report titled '144th Report on Action Taken on the 133rd Report of the Committee on the Subject "Judicial Processes and Their Reforms"' with 22 recommendations along with the outline of the response of the Union Law Ministry to the recommendations made for judicial reforms on Wednesday, February 7.
The recommendations have been categorised into four chapters based on the Union Law Ministry’s response and include the establishment of regional Supreme Court benches, increase in the retirement age of High Court and Supreme Court judges, greater social diversity in judicial appointments, and reassessment of post-retirement assignments for judges.
The report stated, “The Delhi-centric Supreme Court causes a big hurdle for those litigants who are coming from far-flung areas of the country. First, there is a language problem for them, and then finding lawyers, the cost of litigation, travel, and staying in Delhi makes justice very costly…The interpretation of Constitution and Constitutional matters may be dealt at Delhi and the regional benches may decide appellate matters.”