Law Ministry Accepts Parliamentary Standing Committee's Recommendation To Establish Regional Benches Of Supreme Court

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on Wednesday presented the 144th Report outlining the response of the Union Law Ministry to the recommendations made for judicial reforms in the 133rd Report of the Committee. The 133rd report was presented before the Rajya Sabha on August 7, 2023, and tabled before the Lok Sabha on the same day.The Union Law Ministry has accepted the Parliamentary Standing Committee's recommendation to establish regional benches of the Supreme Court throughout India and to publish annual reports of all High Court and the Supreme Court.The 22 recommendations put forward by the Committee in its 133rd Report 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.In the report titled '144th Report on Action Taken on the 133rd Report of the Committee on the Subject "Judicial Processes and Their Reforms"' (Action Taken Report), the recommendations have been categorized under four chapters based on the government's response:Chapter I: Recommendations accepted by the government1. Regional benches of Supreme CourtThe committee recommended establishing four or five regional benches of the Supreme Court across the country. Regional benches may help with the overflowing caseload of the judiciary.Further, the committee observed, “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.”.As per the Action Taken Report, the government has twice referred the matter for the opinion of the Attorney General. Despite committee's recommendation for invoking Article 130 of the Constitution, which empowers the Chief Justice of India to designate sitting places for the Supreme Court, the respective Attorney Generals in 2010 and 2016, deemed the proposal impermissible and potentially detrimental to the court's unity and integrity. The matter remains sub-judice before a Constitutional Bench. “The Supreme Court has been consistently rejecting the proposal for setting up of the Benches of Supreme Court at a place outside Delhi.”2. Preparation and publication of annual reports by courtsThe committee recommended regular publication of Annual Reports by the Supreme Court and all High Courts. While the Supreme Court has been actively publishing its report, not all High Courts publish one.The Action Taken Report states that the Department of Justice, on June 19, 2023, urged the Chief Justice of India and Chief Justices of all the High Courts to follow the format set by the Orissa High Court in order to ensure uniformity in reporting standards.Chapter II: Recommendations not pursued by the committee1. Increasing retirement age of judgesIn light of increased life expectancy and advancements in medical sciences, the committee proposed amendments in the relevant articles of the Constitution to increase the retirement age of judges to ensure alignment with evolving demographics. Currently, a Judge of the Supreme Court has to retire at the age of 65, while a High Court Judge retires at the age of 62.The government said that increase in retirement age of High Court would “bring parity in the retirement of Judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court and reduce attraction among High Court Judges for getting elevated to Supreme Court.” Further, bringing parity in the retirement age of the Supreme Court and High Court Judges may result in consequential demand for increase in retirement age of the Supreme Court Judges. The government opined that extending retirement age will give benefit of extended years of service to non-deserving cases and lead to non-performing and under-performing judges to continue. “There will be no limit to it and in future, there may efforts to increase the age further. Besides this, other public agencies i.e. Tribunals, Commissions, etc. may also follow suit starting a chain reaction”, it said.2. Performance evaluation of judgesThe committee also suggested reassessing judges' performance before extending their tenure due to an increased retirement age. However, the government said that the performance evaluation should not be linked to extension of retirement age as it may result in erosion of parliamentary powers by empowering the Supreme Court Collegium for the evaluation. Further, it can cause undue favouritism, and make judges susceptible to pressures, thus impinging on their performance as impartial judges.3. Vacancies in courtsThe committee noted that long vacations are not the only cause of heavy backlog of cases in...

Law Ministry Accepts Parliamentary Standing Committee's Recommendation To Establish Regional Benches Of Supreme Court

Amisha Shrivastava

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