National Court of Appeals is opposed
Q. Which of the following is/are true about the recent issue regarding National Court of Appeals?
1) Central Government has refused the idea of National Court of Appeals.
2) National Court of Appeals will deal with civil and criminal cases from High Courts.- Published on 01 Mar 16a. Only 1
b. Only 2
c. Both 1 and 2
d. Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWER: Both 1 and 2
- It is for easing the burden of the Supreme Court cases.
- The lawyer had approached the Union Ministry for Law and Justice with his proposal after the Supreme Court asked the government to hear him out through a judicial order.
- In its order, the Ministry cited three grounds for rejecting the idea — The Supreme Court always sits in Delhi as per the Constitution Article 130; the Chief Justices of India in the past have “consistently opposed” the idea of a National Court of Appeal or regional Benches to the Supreme Court; and the Attorney-General said a National Court of Appeal would “completely change the constitution of the Supreme Court.”.
- The Supreme Court on Friday admitted a petition of V. Vasanthakumar, a Chennai lawyer, for setting up a National Court of Appeal with regional benches to act as the final courts of justice in criminal and civil cases. In doing so, the court has at one stroke questioned the past views of its own Chief Justices of India about bifurcation of judicial powers and a government order in 2014 that such a court of appeal is constitutionally impermissible.
- The question is whether the apex court should be burdened with the responsibility of examining the correctness of every case decided by the High Courts, and whether it should not be allowed to devote its time entirely to settling questions of constitutional importance.
- Constitutional questions may refer to the validity of a statute or a rule, or to issues that require interpretation of the Constitution.
- A concern relates the oft-cited difficulties of litigants from different parts of the country for whom New Delhi may be too far.
- The solutions put forward include dividing the Supreme Court into a ‘Constitutional Division’ and a ‘Legal Division’; or secondly having the principal Constitution Bench in Delhi and creating four regional Benches to hear appeals on High Court orders; and, third, creating a National Court of Appeal that will have four ‘Cassation Benches’ for the adjudication of non-constitutional matters. The National Court of Appeals will deal with appeals from high Court cases and Supreme Court will deal with constitutional law.
- Petition seeks that the benches for National Court of Appeals should be established at Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.
