Need for Regional Benches

♤ Constitutional obligation: Article 39-A directs the State to ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other

disabilities. Thus, it is essential to ensure that the additional transaction cost of litigation for people of north-eastern states or southern states should be minimal.

♤ High pendency of cases: More than 65,000 cases are pending in the Supreme Court, and disposal of appeals takes many years.

♤ Litigation as a measure of well-being: An empirical study on litigation in India, finds that there is direct correlation between civil case filing and economic prosperity (more prosperous states have higher civil litigation rates). However, in recent years civil case backlog has discouraged civil case filings which may impact India’s future economic growth. Thus, setting up regional bench is a step-in right direction.

♤ Higher accessibility- The accessibility to SC due to its seat in Delhi is less, especially to the poor and those living in far-off places like north-east.