Establish Supreme Court Bench in South India

Source : The Hindu

The Forum for Supreme Court Bench in south India on Saturday requested the Chief Justice of India and the President to take positive steps to establish a Bench of the Supreme Court in the South. If the request is not fulfilled, 2.50 lakh laywers practising in the South would be compelled to abstain from courts and go on an indefinite fast before the Supreme Court and Parliament.

A resolution to this effect was adopted at the forum's meeting here. A joint action committee (JAC) was formed and it would convene a meeting of lawyers of the four Southern States and Puducherry in March/April next year.

The resolution said that more than 100 law colleges had come up in the Southern States which had more than 2.50 lakh lawyers.

Percentage of litigation

Litigation in the Supreme Court from this part of the country was 25 per cent. This necessitated establishing a Supreme Court Bench in the South. Poor people were virtually denied the right to approach the apex court due to the time and distance involved. The country's population had increased in the last 60 years which necessitated the establishment of Supreme Court Benches.

The Legal Blog had earlier covered a story where the Union Law Minister, Verrappa Moily,said the government has ‘no proposal to establish Benches of the Supreme Court anywhere in the country.'