Vice President bats for bifurcating Supreme Court

Source: deccanherald.com

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday pitched for bifurcating the Supreme Court to handle constitutional matters and appeals and also called for creating four regional benches of the top court for speedy disposal of cases.

Endorsing the recommendation of the Law Commission on splitting the Supreme Court into constitutional division and courts of appeal, he underlined the need to set up four regional benches of the apex court.

Naidu said the move would not require an amendment to the Constitution and referred to Article 130 to drive home his point.

The Vice President also referred to a recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice on having regional benches of the Supreme Court on trial basis, a statement issued by his secretariat said.

He was addressing a gathering on the release of a book – ‘Parameswara To PP’ edited by senior advocate Mahalakshmi Pavani and advocate Neeleshwar on the writings of eminent jurist late P P Rao here.

Supreme Court judge Rohinton F Nariman, Attorney General K K Venugopal and several former judges were present at the launch.

To cut the present delays in justice delivery, Naidu urged that standard operating procedures (SOPs) may be evolved by the judiciary by which the number of permissible adjournments can be specified and a time limit can be set for disposal of cases based on the nature of issues involved.