“It is needless to point out that, while taking up matters on appeal by way of Special Leave Petition (SLP) or approaching this court straightaway under Article 32, people from different parts of the country have to travel for nearly four days, stay at Delhi for a long time for briefing the advocate on record and the senior counsel and also to attend the hearings, in their own interest by spending huge amounts,” the petition said.
Further, it said “There are cases where, due to fear of high cost many of the cases are left unchallenged. Further, the fees chargeable by the senior advocates on daily basis are beyond the reach of the normal litigants.”
The advocate said the National Court of Appeal would help in absorbing cases which are pending in the Supreme Court.
The petition said the chartered high courts themselves could well be the seats of these courts of appeal which would be manned by judges of the same stature as the judges who would otherwise be elevated from the high courts to the Supreme Court or half of the judges of the apex court may be transferred to the National Courts of Appeal.
“The Supreme Court would then be left with only those cases which would fall within the true jurisdiction of the apex court of the country, except if the National Court of Appeal infers that a particular case deserves to be decided by the Supreme Court and cases in which already leave was granted by the high court under Article 134A of the Constitution of India,” it said.
“The National Court of Appeal would finally decide all cases arising from the high courts and it would exercise the powers which are hitherto being exercised by the Supreme Court under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.
“The Supreme Court would entertain appeal from the high court restricting the scope of Article 136 to cases involving constitutional issues, validity of central and state laws, difference of opinion between the high courts or between the courts of appeal and presidential references and suits between the states or states and the Centre and writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution,” the petition said.
