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Time to set up a National Court of Appeal and let SC be a constitutional court: Attorney General

To reduce the burden on the Supreme Court (SC), Attorney General K K Venugopal on Thursday (November 26) recommended setting up a National Court of Appeal, separate from SC, to hear the appeals from the lower courts.

The Attorney General observed that the Supreme Court’s function should that be of a constitutional court, dealing only with the issues of national and constitutional importance.

He was speaking on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution at an online event organized by the Supreme Court.

Present in the online summit were President Ram Nath Kovind, Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and Union law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

November 26, commemorates as our Constitution Day, and in 1949 India adopted its new Constitution.

Venugopal said that the Court of Appeal could have four benches — north, south, east and west — having 15 judges at par with the SC judges.

The suggestion was made due to the prospect of a high burden on the apex court as it resumes normal functioning after the pandemic.

“This will require a constitutional amendment. This will leave Supreme Court with a pendency of only 2,000-3,000 cases a year as compared to present figure of 60-70,000. It will allow top court judges more time to patiently read and write judgments, as currently they sit till midnight reading case files listed for next day,” Venugopal was quoted as saying by HT.

CJI Bobde also acknowledged that huge pendency will arise when the pandemic ceases and talked about the resilience the judiciary displayed in the face of the crisis by not missing a single day.

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