Madras High Court: While dismissing a petition with regard to the setting up of National Court of Appeal as suggested by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Bihar Legal Support Society v. Chief Justice of India, (1986) 4 SCC 767 , the Division Bench of S.K. Kaul, C.J. and M.M. Sundresh, J., stated that setting up of a National Court of Appeal is a matter of legislation and constitutional amendment, therefore, repeated agitations by the petitioner for reconsideration on the same by filing petitions is needless and thus not maintainable.
As per the facts, the Supreme Court in a passing reference in the Bihar Legal Support Society case had expressed a need to set up a National Court of Appeal along side the existing Supreme Court dealing with the questions of Constitutional and Public Law. The petitioner (appearing for himself in the present case) had filed a petition in the Supreme Court to consider the observations of the above-mentioned case. The petitioner argued that a National Court of Appeal with its regional branches in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, thereby giving a geographical proximity of the Court to the public.
The Court observed that, in pursuance of the petitioner’s representation, the matter was considered at length by the Central Government and the Chief Justice of India. Many Supreme Court judges have opposed to the idea of National Court of Appeal. The Attorney General was of the opinion that amendment to Article 130 is impermissible as the entire constitution of the Supreme Court will be altered. The Court itself felt that the issue at hand raises many questions regarding divisions in the Supreme Court and requirement of tiers of appeals for different subject matters etc. V.Vasanthakumar v. H.C Bhatia, 2015 SCC OnLine Mad 300 decided on 05.03.2015
