CHENNAI: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday suggested setting up of Supreme Court benches in major cities for speedy disposal of cases with a specific time frame and said time has come to revisit the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Speaking at the release of his book, chronicling his two years in office by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he referred to the Standing Committee’s recommendations and said there should be Supreme Court bench in the South, Western and Eastern regions, so that the people did not face the difficulty of travelling long distances.
“It’s high time to have Supreme Court benches in at least four major cities. To start with one could be set up in Chennai,” he added.
He also suggested increasing the number of judges for speedy disposal of cases and said there could be two divisions in the Supreme Court—one to decide on the Constitutional matters and the other, the appeals.
Stating that time has come to have a relook on the system of appointing judges, he said the judicial process should be people friendly and certain categories of cases should be decided early. Mr Naidu also said election petitions in courts should be decided speedily to prevent travesty of justice. He said a petition challenging the election of a Lok Sabha member was filed in 2009. Even after 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, that election petition is still pending. Mr Naidu said there should be a time frame to dispose of these cases, say six months.
Noting that it was time to have a comprehensive relook on the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, the Vice President said “we should discuss this and come to a conclusion.” He said the legislatures should discuss, debate and decide and there should be no disruption.
“Credibility, Capacity and Capability should be the deciding factor for a person to enter the legislature and not Caste, Cash and Criminality”, he added.
On a personal note, Mr Naidu said he was planning to retire from politics and get into social service.
“I had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi about this. I had also told my wife to be ready to leave Delhi and go back to village,” he added. (AGENCIES)
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