Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain PIL Seeking putting in place Of Its Branches

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking the fixing of its branches in various parts of the country, saying that now the lawyers can address it from anywhere through a video conferencing facility.

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 justice of India, through the executive of the apex court, and therefore 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, because the jurist 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 fitting a court of appeals in various parts of the country to listen to appeals against tribunal verdicts.

“You cannot have a right to return here and to hunt 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 magistrate of India,” the bench said.

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

The NGO then decided to withdraw the plea.