Rohit Kapoor
The Supreme Court of India came into being on 28 January 1950. It replaced both the Federal Court of India and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which were then at the apex of the Indian court system.
In Jammu and Kashmir, it was the Board of Judicial advisors akin to the Privy Council in British India. The Board was to advise the Ruler in the disposal of the civil and criminal appeals against the decisions of the High Court. It came to be abolished by the Constitution Act and at the time of its abolition there were about 17 appeals pending before the Board. In order to make arrangements to dispose of these appeals the Chief Justice wrote to the Government of India that a special bench of Supreme Court be requested to come to Kashmir to hear and dispose these appeals as the appellants were not in a financial position to go to Delhi for contesting the cases in the Supreme Court of India.
Supreme Court of India through publication in the Gazette of India on 10th of July 1954, issued a notification wherein in exercise of power conferred on him by Article 130 of the Constitution , the Chief Justice of India with the approval of the President appointed Srinagar as a place at which Division bench of the Supreme Court was to sit for disposal of the appeals and other proceedings transferred to it from Board of Judicial Advisors, Jammu and Kashmir under clause 4 of Article 374 of the Constitution By amendment in Supreme Court of India Rules 1950, the engagement of an advocate on record was dispensed with in this notification and it was further provided that a senior advocate may appear and plead without a junior in respect of all such matters heard at Srinagar.
The Govt. of India with the consultation of Justice Mehar Chand Mahajan, Chief Justice of India accepted the recommendation of Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and sent a special bench of the Supreme Court of India consisting of Chief Justice Mehar chand Mahajan, Justice S. R. Dass and Justice Ghulam Hassan to Kashmir for disposing of the pending appeals. The bench heard the appeals in Srinagar and upheld the judgment of the High Court in all the 17 appeals. It was in July 1954.
It was a historical event, when a Bench of Supreme Court held sitting outside the place of seat at Delhi till date this is the sole instance since 1950 when the Supreme Court of India came into existence.
Also a notable, financial hardship of litigants was the reason for the then Chief Justice to write to the Government of India for bench of Supreme Court to come to Kashmir to hear and dispose of the Appeals.
History can repeat itself.
(The author is an advocate)
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