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India’s Supreme Court is beyond the reach of the majority of Indians for many reasons, not least because of the distance involved in reaching it and the expense of hiring lawyers in New Delhi. Neither the Supreme Court nor Parliament have considered setting up regional benches of the highest court in spite of recommendations from law commissions and judges.
New Delhi: In September 2021, just a month before his retirement, Justice N Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court suggested—echoing other judges and law commissions—that the Constitution be amended to create more Supreme Court benches.
"No impression should be given that the Honourable Supreme Court is meant only for the people living in and around New Delhi or the States surrounding New Delhi,” said Justice Kirubakaran in the course of a judgement.
Two months before Justice Kirubakaran’s observation, five bar councils in south India submitted a representation to the Chief Justice of India, N V Ramana, and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu requesting a Supreme Court bench in south India. And in March 2021, a parliamentary panel said the government should consider setting up more Supreme Court benches.
These are not new suggestions. Four law commissions have recommended regional benches of the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court and Parliament have not shown any inclination to diversify India’s highest court.
Yet, this is clearly an issue that continues to be on the minds of many.
It is relevant to discuss the issue now because a glimpse of how the diversification of the Supreme Court might be implemented was provided by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like so many other institutions—schools, colleges, businesses, companies—the Indian judiciary too underwent unprecedented transformations during the Covid-19 pandemic.
From the district and sessions courts to the Supreme Court, all attempted, and some succeeded, in adopting video-conferencing to hold court—unthinkable to a lawyer in pre-Covid times.
Read more- https://article-14.com/post/the-pandemic-provides-answers-to-how-the-supreme-court-can-be-taken-beyond-new-delhi--6191d28ac710b