A post claiming that the Union government has decided to establish a permanent bench of the Supreme Court in Bangalore is being widely shared across social media platforms. Let’s fact-check the veracity of the claim made in the post.
Claim: Union government has decided to establish a permanent bench of the Supreme Court in Bangalore.
Fact: The Union (Central) Government did not approve any such proposal seeking establishment of a SC bench in Bangalore. In a written reply to a question seeking information regarding establishment of the court of appeal in four parts of the country, citing a 2016 Writ Petition, the Union Law minister said that the matter is sub-judice before the Supreme court. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The Union government did not approve any such proposal regarding the establishment of a Supreme Court bench in Bangalore. If at all the central government has cleared ay such proposal, the media would have reported it. However, we could not find any news reports regarding the same.
Recently in a written reply to a question seeking information regarding the implementation of the Law commission’s suggestions regarding splitting of the Supreme court into the Constitutional court and the Court of Appeal, and the establishment of the latter in four parts of the country, the Union Law minister Kiren Rijiju has said that ‘the matter is sub-judice before the Supreme court’, citing a 2016 Writ Petition regarding the establishment of the National Court of appeal.
Back in 2016, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India seeking structural reforms at the highest echelons of the Indian judicial system. The petition seeks for the establishment of a National court of appeal with regional benches at major cities like Kolkata, Mumbai & Chennai. Upon hearing the matter, the Chief Justice of India referred the matter to a Constitutional bench and the same is pending until now. In fact, the case has not been listed since July 2016.
Further, it is noteworthy to mention that in his reply, the Union Minister also said that in 2010, the then Chief Justice of India had informed that the Full Court of the Supreme Court had found no justification for setting up benches of the top court outside Delhi.
To sum it up, the central government did not approve any proposal for the establishment of an SC bench in Bangalore.
