Naidu Asks to Set Up More Supreme Court Benches

The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu, has called for the expansion of Supreme Court and the establishment of more benches in different parts of the country, as per the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice.

Naidu also called upon the three limbs of the state: the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary to work together and inspire synergy to ensure all-round development of the nation. He opined that these organs of the state perform their duties best when they don’t transgress into each other’s territory.

Speaking after launching the book ‘Rethinking Good Governance’, authored by the former Comptroller Auditor General (CAG), Vinod Rai, in New Delhi on Friday (September 13), the Vice President said that decentralization of powers and responsibilities to local bodies must be implemented more efficiently and asserted that funds, functions, and functionaries must be transferred to these institutions.

“This will bring governance closer to people and enhance its credibility and effectiveness,” he added.

Expressing concern over the heavy pendency of cases in various courts in the country, the Vice President suggested reforming the system to eliminate judicial delays and also to improve its efficiency.

Pointing that a number of civil and criminal cases have been pending for over 25 years, the Vice President said that there was a need for division of the Supreme Court into a Constitution Bench at Delhi and Cassation benches in four regions – Delhi, Chennai / Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai, as suggested by the Law Commission.

Expressing his agreement with the suggestions made by the Chief Justice of India to improve the functioning of the judiciary, he said that increasing the retirement age of high court judges and making tenure appointments to clear the backlog were pragmatic solutions.