High Court Benches expedite justice delivery

The volume of work in High Courts has increased by leaps and bounds and though all the vacancies of High Court Judges are filled up, yet the appeals would be pending in the High Court for over a long time. There are still appeals against the sentence of life imprisonment and the government proposes to dispose of those cases by appointing additional judges.

It is quite essential to have the High Court in Tirupati, according to Prof Ranga as the capital is denied to Rayalaseema people. There are a number of cases pending in the High Court from Rayalaseema region and therefore the constitution of High Court Bench in Rayalaseema region is imperative. Rayalaseema is a backward area. Litigant public generally are poor. If the High Court Bench is established in Rayalaseema, it is very convenient to the litigant public and it amounts to taking justice to their doorsteps

There has been a steady increase of population and thereby the volume of litigation also has increased. The plethora of enactments by the State Legislature and the Parliament has added to the volume of work. There is awareness and the parties go in for a writ either in the High Court or in the Supreme Court for speedy disposal of regular appeals, revisions etc. and hence there is large-scale accumulation of cases and litigation is pending.

It is quite essential to have the High Court in Tirupati, according to Prof Ranga as the capital is denied to Rayalaseema people. It has been the ardent desire of the government to take justice to the doorsteps and so it is resulting in the establishment of more courts.

Hitherto there was one district judge for each of the 24 districts in Andhra Pradesh, but each district has got additional district judges and in some districts there are three additional district judges. The judges are now looking after consumer protection cases also.

In North India, in almost all States, there is more than one Bench of the High Courts, other than at the State Capital. Based on the concept that “delayed justice is denied justice,” the life of a culprit will automatically transform into a different life if the justice is not meted out in the appropriate time. There was a pendency of 2,319 cases in 1989 in the Supreme Court and now it has exceeded 1,99,138 cases altogether.

By the year 1991, there were 76,314 cases pending disposal in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Litigation is on the increase and it may result in a force and the whole judicial system will be vitiated. To impart justice to the needy, it is quite essential to have the Supreme Court Benches here and there for the early disposal of pending cases.

There are examples that the High Court located in Allahabad rather than in Lucknow in the unwieldy state of Uttar Pradesh and the High Court of Kerala is located at Ernakulam rather than Thiruvananthapuram. There is a High Court Bench in Lucknow and they want to have another in Kanpur also. There are separate High Court Benches in Nagpur, Aurangabad in Maharashtra and in Jabalpur and Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Our advocates in the coastal area have been pleading for the establishment of a High Court Bench in between Vijayawada and Guntur and now the students are in the fray demanding early establishment of such a High Court Bench. When the state capital was at Kurnool before the formation of Visalandhara, the High Court was in Guntur and only in 1956 after the formation of Andhra Pradesh, the High Court was shifted to Hyderabad.

The State of Andhra Pradesh is quite large and unwieldy and right from Icchapuram in Srikakulam district to Tada in Nellore district, it would be easy for the litigant public to come over to Guntur parts to have justice and hence they have been agitating for the creation of a Bench in between Vijayawada and Guntur.

According to the dictum of decentralisation, it is absolutely necessary to have benches in Rayalaseema and Coastal areas. We would realise our goal by establishing some more benches of the High Court and then alone we can take justice to the doorsteps of the people.

It is very well suggested to appoint a committee of eminent jurists and administrators to go round the area, study the problem and earmark places for standing some High Court Benches in our State of Andhra Pradesh. Though it may cost some money for the exchequer, it is worthwhile to have separate High Court Benches here and there.

There are a number of cases pending in the High Court from Rayalaseema region and therefore the constitution of High Court Bench in Rayalaseema region is imperative. Rayalaseema is a backward area. Litigant public generally are poor. If the High Court Bench is established in Rayalaseema, it is very convenient to the litigant public and it amounts to taking justice to the doorsteps.

When the finances improve, separate High Court Benches should be created in the three regions of our State. (The writer is former Speaker, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly)

By Dr Agarala Eswara Reddi