Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain PIL Seeking Setting Up Of Its Branches

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli took strong note of the PIL of NGO ‘Lok Prahari’, which sought the issuance of a writ to the Chief Justice of India, through the secretary general of the apex court, and the Centre to operationalise Article 130 of the Constitution.

Article 130 of the Indian Constitution deals with the seat of the Supreme Court and reads: “The Supreme Court shall sit in Delhi or such other place or places, as the Chief Justice of India may, with the approval of the President, from time to time, appoint.”

The NGO, in its PIL which was filed through its General Secretary S N Shukla, was seeking relief including setting up a court of appeals in various parts of the country to hear appeals against high court verdicts.

“You cannot have a right to come here and to seek a writ of mandamus for operationalisation of Article 0f 130 for establishing the courts of appeals (SC branches) ... this falls under the jurisdiction of the Chief Justice of India,” the bench said.

“Now we have a video conferencing facility. Now, a lawyer from anywhere from the country can address us on the video conferencing,” it said, adding that it would not entertain it.

The NGO then decided to withdraw the plea.

-With PTI Input