Former TRS MP demands SC bench in south India

Hyderabad: Former MP and TRS leader B Vinod Kumar on Thursday appealed to Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to establish a bench of Supreme Court in south preferably in Hyderabad for taking up cases of South India.

The TRS leader wrote to the Union Minister and welcomed the decision of the Cabinet to increase the number of judges in Supreme Court from 31 to 34. He recalled that he as an MP in 16th Lok Sabha had introduced a private member bill seeking Supreme Court bench and demanding increase in judges' strength from 31 to 42.

Vinod said that in spite of the aforesaid issues, the highest number of appeals from outside north zone are filled from South India. The highest number of appeals in the Supreme Court is from regions close to Delhi. Very few cases are filed in the SC from the South because of distance, which is a clear contradiction to the right of access to justice.

When averaging 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011 the Delhi High Court had the highest appeal rate of 9.3 per cent. The Uttaranchal and Punjab and Haryana High Courts which are both near Delhi and are in relatively wealthier States also had appeal rates to the Supreme Court of over 5 per cent.

All other High Courts besides Himachal Pradesh (3.2 per cent) and Bombay (3.0 per cent) had an appeal rate of less than 3 per cent. Madras had an appeal rate of just 1.1 per cent and Orissa less than 1 per cent. Seen in this light, establishment of a bench in the south becomes pertinent in order to make available access to justice to all citizens, said Vinod.