Lok Sabha Question No. 47 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-02
Subject: Regional Benches of Supreme Court
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: Dushyant Singh, Bhagirath Chaudhary, Deepak (Dev) Adhikari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 47

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 02.02.2024

## Regional Benches of Supreme Court

## 47. SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH: SHRI BHAGIRATH CHOUDHARY: SHRI ADHIKARI DEEPAK (DEV):

Will the Minister of LAW AND JUSTICE be pleased to state:

- (a) the  names  of  States  of  the  country  where  the  regional  benches  of  the Supreme Court have been functioning;
- (b) whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  set  up  new  regional/circuit benches of the Supreme Court for better access to justice and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government has a plan to establish a new Regional Bench of  the  Supreme  Court  at  Ajmer  in  the  State  of  Rajasthan,  if  so,  the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the Government has undertaken any impact assessment of the National Mission for Justice Delivery and Legal Reforms and if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE; MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS; AND MINISTER OF STATE FOR THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE

(SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

(a) and (b): Article 130 of the Constitution of India provides that the Supreme Court shall sit in Delhi or in such other place or places as the Chief Justice of India may, with the approval of the President, from time to time, appoint.

The Eleventh Law Commission in its 125 th  Report titled 'The Supreme Court  -  A  Fresh  Look',  submitted  in  1988,  reiterated  the  recommendations made by Tenth Law Commission in its 95 th   Report  for  splitting  the  Supreme Court into two namely (i) Constitutional Court at Delhi and (ii) Court of appeal or  Federal  Court  sitting  in  North,  South,  East,  West  and  Central  India.  The Eighteenth  Law  Commission  in  its  229 th Report  submitted  in  2009  had  also suggested  that  a  Constitutional  Bench  be  set  up  at  Delhi  and  four  Cassation Benches  be  set  up  in  the  Northern  region  at  Delhi,  Southern  region  at Chennai/Hyderabad, Eastern region at Kolkata and Western region at Mumbai.

The matter was referred to the Chief Justice of India, who has informed that after consideration of the matter, the Full Court in its meeting held on 18 th February, 2010, found no justification for setting up of benches of the Supreme Court  outside  Delhi.  The  Chief  Justice  of  India  had  earlier  conveyed  similar views in August, 2007.

In Writ Petition WP(C) No. 36/2016 on establishment of National Court of Appeal,  the  Supreme  Court  vide  its  judgment  dated  13.07.2016  deemed  it proper to refer the aforementioned issue to Constitutional Bench for authoritative pronouncement. The matter is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.

Presently,  there  are  no  regional  benches  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the States.

(c): There is no proposal for establishing a new Regional Bench of the Supreme Court at Ajmer in the State of Rajasthan.

- (d):  No  such  specific  impact  assessment  of  the National  Mission  for  Justice Delivery  and  Legal  Reforms  has  been  undertaken.  However,  the  Mission  has been relentlessly working to provide for better infrastructure to courts, including computerization, adopting various policy and legislative measures in the areas prone  to  excessive  litigation,  re-engineering  of  court  procedure  for  quick disposal  of  cases  and  emphasis  on  human  resource  development.  Among  the prominent  initiatives  of  the  National  Mission,  the  ones  delineated  below  are noteworthy: -
- i. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Judicial Infrastructure, funds are being released to States/UTs for construction of court halls, residential quarters for judicial officers, lawyers' halls, toilet complexes and  digital  computer  rooms  that  would  ease  the  life  of  lawyers  and litigants, thereby aiding justice delivery. As on date, Rs. 10551.68 crores have  been  released  since  the  inception  of  the  Centrally  Sponsored Scheme  (CSS)  for  Development  of  Infrastructure  Facilities  for  the Judiciary  in  1993-94.  The  number  of  court  halls  has  increased  from 15,818  as  on  30.06.2014  to  21,524  as  on  31.12.2023,  and  number  of residential units has increased from 10,211 as on 30.06.2014 to 18,951 as on 31.12.2023, under this scheme.
- ii. Sanctioned  and  working  strength  of  judicial  officers  in  district  and subordinate courts has increased as under: -

| As on      | Sanctioned Strength   | Working Strength   |
|------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
| 31.12.2013 | 19,518                | 15,115             |
| 23.01.2023 | 25,348                | 20,018             |

However, filling up of vacancies in subordinate judiciary falls within the domain of the State Governments and High Courts concerned.

- iii. With  a  view  to  reduce  pendency  and  unclogging  of  the  courts,  the Government  has  recently  amended  various  laws  like  the  Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Commercial Courts (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018, the Arbitration  and  Conciliation  (Amendment)  Act,  2019  and  the  Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2018.
- iv. Alternate Dispute Resolution methods have been promoted wholeheartedly.  Accordingly,  the  Commercial  Courts  Act,  2015  was amended  on 20 th August,  2018 making  Pre-institution  Mediation  and Settlement (PIMS) mandatory in case of commercial disputes. Amendment to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been made by the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act 2015 for expediting the speedy resolution of disputes by prescribing timelines. The recently  enacted  Mediation  Act,  2023  lays  down  that  mediation  can  be conducted in civil and commercial matters in terms of the provisions of the Mediation Act, 2023 barring such matters explicitly listed in the First Schedule  of  the  Act  which  are  not  fit  for  mediation  and  in  which mediation cannot be conducted. It can be seen from the exempted list in the  first  schedule  that  only  major  offences  have  been  excluded,  thus leaving majority of the petty offences under the ambit of Mediation Act, 2023
- v. Under  the  Commercial  Courts  Act,  2015,  there  is  provision  for  case management  hearing  which  provides  for  an  efficient,  effective  and purposeful judicial management of a case so as to achieve a timely and qualitative  resolution  of  a  dispute.  It  assists  in  early  identification  of disputed issues of fact and law, establishment of procedural calendar for the life of the case and the exploration of possibilities of the resolution of the dispute. Another novel feature introduced for the commercial courts is the system of color banding which limits the number of adjournments that

can be granted in any commercial matter to three and alerts the judges about listing of the cases in accordance with their stage of pendency.

- vi. Under the e-Courts Mission Mode Project, information and communication technology (ICT) has been leveraged for IT enablement of  district  and  subordinate  courts.  Furthering  computerization  of  the district  and  subordinate  courts  with  proper  WAN  connectivity,  video conferencing facility, setting up of e-Sewa Kendras in the court complexes  and  virtual  courts  etc.  under  Phase-I  and  II  of  the  e-Courts project. Recently, the Cabinet on 13.09.2023 has approved Phase-III of eCourts  with  a  budgetary  outlay  of  Rs.7,210  crore.  e-Courts  Phase  III envisages  digitisation  of  the  court  records,  both  legacy  records  and pending cases; state of the art and latest Cloud based data repository for easy  retrieval;  e-Sewa  Kendras  at  all  court  complexes  across  India; paperless  courts;  video  conferencing  facilities  to  be  expanded  to  also cover district hospitals; Live Streaming of court proceedings and expansion of the scope of Virtual Courts. The project will help provide a smoother  user  experience  by  building  a  'smart'  ecosystem.  Registries will  have  less  data  entry  and  minimal  file  scrutiny  facilitating  better decision-making  and  policy  planning.  The  e-Courts  Phase-III  may  thus prove  to  be  a  game  changer  in  ensuring  ease  of  justice  by  making  the Court  experience  convenient,  inexpensive  and  hassle  free  to  all  the citizens of the country.
- vii. Lok Adalats  have  come  up  as  a  viable Alternative  Disputes  Resolution Mechanism available to common people. It is a forum where the disputes/ cases  pending  in  the  court  of  law  or  at  pre-litigation  stage  are  settled/ compromised amicably.  Under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, an award made by a Lok Adalat is deemed to be a decree of a civil court  and  is  final  and  binding  on  all  parties  and  no  appeal  lies  against thereto before any court. Lok Adalat is not a permanent establishment.

Three types of Lok Adalats: National Lok Adalats, State Lok Adalats and Permanent  Lok  Adalats  are  generally  organized  at  regular  intervals. Mobile Lok Adalats are also organized in different parts of the country, which travel from one location to another to resolve disputes through a mediated mechanism. Since June, 2020, online Lok Adalat/e-Lok Adalats have  been  organised virtually that facilitates party interaction and exchange of information, allowing people to effectively participate from their homes.

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