Introduction
On October 1, 2019, the Supreme Court of India got a permanent five-judge Constitutional bench for the first time in seventy-year history which will be available round the year to adjudicate complex questions and interpret laws. The Court has also decided to set up a single judge bench to a hear matters relating to bail in offences with seven-year imprisonment.
Need for Permanent Bench in SC
The need for permanent constitutional bench was being felt for a long time, but due to certain constraints like limited number of SC judges and ever increasing pending cases, the task could not be done. So far, a five-judge constitutional bench used to be made in matters of substantial question of law, referred by a two or three judge bench, known as division bench. Now, as the strength of the Supreme Court has increased from 30 to 34, the CJI took the opportunity to constitute a permanent constitution bench. Besides, the CJI has also the power to constitute the one judge bench to deal with bail matters. Though there are certain doubts as to be the influenced of the CJI on the final outcome, the current amendments as to the power of the CJI would speed up the disposal of cases.
Pendency of the Cases in the Apex Court
As on September 2, 2019, there were 59,616 cases pending before the Supreme Court, nearly 404 of them being before a five-judge constitution bench. About 46 of them pertained to the subject of law and 358 were related to it. A total of 13 petitions were pending before a seven-judge constitution bench; five of them being related to the main issue whereas eight of them, connected to them. Similarly, a nine-judge bench has to adjudicate on about 136 petitions, five of them being related to main subject and 131 related to them.
Type of Benches
(i) Division Bench In India, a Supreme Court judgement does not reflect a decision of the entire court compared to the US and some other countries where matters of constitutional importance are taken up by the Supreme Court in which all the judges sit together and decide the matter. Moreover, almost 90 per cent of the cases are rejected and are never heard again. Decisions, here, are based on benches, consisting of two, three, five and upto 31 judges. Thus, a bench consisting of minimum two judges in called a division bench. However, the size of a division bench can be increased in view of the case concerned. A division bench main belong to High Court as well as Supreme Court.
(ii) Constitution Bench In general, a constitution bench consists of five-judges but it may be extended to seven, nine and 13 judges.
(iii) Vacation Bench A special bench of the Supreme Court, it is constituted by the CJI to work during long vacations each year, the summer and winter breaks, each year.
(iv) Permanent Constitution Bench It is a constitution bench which would be available throughout the year to decide matters of constitutional or legislative importance. A permanent constitution bench of five-judges and five three-judge benches have been set up which would engage 20 out of 34 Supreme Court judges.
(v) Zonal Benches The zonal benches also known as cassation courts of the Supreme Court were in demand for a long period of time. Now, law commission has recommended setting up of zonal benches in order to make it accessible to people living in far off places in the country, which will save both money and time for litigants. They have to be set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai or Hyderabad. A court of last resort, a zonal bench would have the power to quash decisions of the lower courts. These courts, except at Delhi, would hear appeals against orders of the area High Court. As for Delhi Constitution Bench, it would deal with inter-state dispute and important constitutional issues. However, this proposal of the law commission has been opposed by the Supreme Court full bench lest it should affects its institutional integrating.
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Provision of Constitutional Bench
Article 145 (3) of the Constitution of India ;provides that a minimum number of five-judges of the Supreme Court are to sit in a Constitution Bench to adjudicate matters involving substantial question of law or for the purpose of hearing reference matters under Article 143.
Benefits of Permanent Constitution Bench
There are four main benefits of the Permanent Constitution Bench:
(i) The bench will be functional round the year.
(ii) The CJI would not be blamed for influencing the judgement of the court.
(iii) The judges will not constitute benches in the manner, pointed out by Justice Chandrachud.
(iv) The extent of dissent could be increased in the rulings of the apex court.
Conclusion
No doubt, the Supreme Court’s decision to set up a Permanent Constitution Bench is praise worthy, in that it would maximise dissent. The CJI would not affect the outcome, and it would reduce the necessity to form constitute benches for every case referred to it. It would be important to see if the Permanent Constitution Bench works unbiasedly and comes out with more sound judgements. However, the judges work load being too high, it might be difficult for them to frame dissenting views. The concerns remain that how a Permanent Constitution Bench is conceived of, what it size would be and whether its composition does not unduly depend on the discretion of the CJI, etc. Short of a rational criterion in these aspects, the idea of the Permanent Constitution Bench, even if appealing to many, may not yield satisfactory results. It is also not clear whether benches of smaller strength could refer cases to be heard by a Permanent Constitution Bench or whether the latter could independently decide which cases to hear after hearing the litigants directly at the threshold.
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