The Supreme Court of India has opened a very important debate as the fallout of ever increasing pendency before it with no possibility of their quick disposal in sight in near future. Although this issue has been haunting the Indian judiciary for quite some time, yet the questions which the Supreme Court has raised were never raise before. As such, the debate has assumed great importance.
Actually, a plea has been made to the Apex Court seeking setting up of National Court of Appeal with regional benches in major cities. It is stated in the plea that there was a need to examine the issue of pendency of cases through a larger bench of five Judges. The Apex Court has referred the case to the Constitutional Bench adding some important questions to which it expects the Constitutional Bench to find an answer. The questions are like these: (a) in view of large pendency, is justice denied to the petitioners in the light of the principle that justice delayed is justice denied (b) will it be constitutional to divest the Supreme Court of 80 per cent of burden by referring the pending cases to four Courts of Appeal created through constitutional exercise in four parts of the country (c) is it not legally right to say that the Supreme Court is not actually meant to be an appellate court and as such should be relieved from entertaining such a large number of cases that could be disposed of by regional courts.
This appears a very crucial turn in the history of Indian judiciary. It indicates that many far-reaching changes would appear once profound debate is initiated on the questions raised by the Apex Court. This speaks of pragmatism on the part of the highest court in the country and should be welcomed.
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