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Answering Dr G. Ranjith Reddy, Hon’ble Member Lok Sabha, on Whether the Law Commission recommended splitting of Supreme Court into Constitutional Court, Court of Appeal at Delhi and Institution of a Southern Branch, Law Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday recalled past recommendations – said that the matter remains Sub-Judice before the Top Court.

The following 5 questions were raised to the Hon’ble Law Minister:

(a) whether three Law Commissions (11th, 10th and 18th) have recommended for splitting of Supreme Court into Constitutional Court and Court of Appeal at Delhi and later one each in four parts of the country

(b) if so, the reasons for delay in implementing this recommendation

(c) the details of hurdles that the Ministry is facing and the manner in which it is planning to overcome them

(d) whether there have been demands and that 18th Law Commission has recommended setting up of a Southern Bench of Supreme Court at Hyderabad since it is centrally located; and

(e) if so, the details of the action taken by the Government in this regard?

Reproducing Article 130 of the Constitution, the Law Minister recalled recommendations by the 11^th and 18^th Law Commissions:

“The Eleventh Law Commission in its 125th Report titled “The Supreme Court – A Fresh Look”, submitted in 1988, reiterated the recommendations made by Tenth Law Commission in its 95th 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 Law Commission opined that this will reduce the distance travelled and the cost borne by the litigants. The recommendations of the Law Commission’s 95th and 125th Report are available on Law Commission of India website https://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/.

The Eighteenth Law Commission in its 229th Report 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 recommendations of the Law Commission’s 229th Report is available on Law Commission of India website https://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/,” Hon’ble Law Minister said.

It was added that reference was made to the CJI, after which in a meeting held on February 18, 2010, it was found that no justification rests for setting up benches outside Delhi.

“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 before the Supreme Court,” Hon’ble Law Minister further replied.