 bill no 146  of  2016 the  supreme court of india (establishment of circuit benches at mumbai, chennai and  kolkata)  bill, 2016 by shri rajeev satav, mp a billto provide for the establishment of circuit benches of the supreme court of india at mumbai, chennai and kolkatabe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-seventh year of the republic of india as follows:—short title and commencement 2  there shall be established a circuit bench of the supreme court of india—5establishment of circuit benches of the supreme court of india at mumbai, chennai and kolkata(a) at mumbai and such number of judges of the supreme court of india, being not less than five, as the chief justice of india may, from time to time, with the approval of the president, nominate, shall sit at mumbai on a rotation basis, in order to exercise the jurisdiction and power for the time being vested in the supreme court of india in respect of cases arising in the states of rajasthan, gujarat, maharashtra, goa, madhya pradesh, union territories of dadra and nagar haveli, and daman and diu and such other territories as may be notified by the central government, from time to time, with approval of the chief justice of india;10 15(b) at chennai and such number of judges of the supreme court of india, being not less than five, as the chief justice of india may, from time to time, with the approval of the president, nominate, shall sit at chennai on a rotation basis, in order to exercise the jurisdiction and power for the time being vested in the supreme court of india in respect of cases arising in the states of andhra pradesh, odisha, kerala, karnataka, tamil nadu, union territories of puducherry and lakshadweep and such other territories as may be notified by the central government, from time to time, with approval of the chief justice of india; and20 25(c) at kolkata and such number of judges of the supreme court of india, being not less than five, as the chief justice of india may, from time to time, with the approval of the president, nominate, shall sit at kolkata on a rotation basis, in order to exercise the jurisdiction and power for the time being vested in the supreme court of india in respect of cases arising in the states of arunachal pradesh, assam, bihar, chhattisgarh, jharkhand, manipur, meghalaya, mizoram, nagaland, sikkim, tripura, west bengal, the union territory of andaman and nicobar islands and such other territories as may be notified by the central government, from time to time, with approval of the chief justice of india statement of objects and reasonslaw commissions of india have examined the proposal of creation of regional benches of the supreme court of india on several occasions law commissions in its 2nd, 6th, 15th, 20th, 26th, 29th and the 95th reports as well as parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice in their 20th (2007), 26th (2008) and 28th (2008) reports have continuously and vigorously emphasised on the setting up benches of supreme court of india at least on a trial basismoreover, law commission of india in its 229th report had observed that "the agonies of a litigant coming to new delhi from distant places like chennai, thiruvananthapuram, puducherry in the south, gujarat, maharashtra, goa in the west, assam or other states in the east to attend a case in the supreme court can be imagined; huge amount is spent on travel; bringing one's own lawyer who has handled the matter in the high court adds to the cost; adjournment becomes prohibitive; costs get multiplied"the proposal, however, has not found favour with the supreme court so the need is to address the major issues raised against this proposalfirst issue against setting up of regional benches of the supreme court has been whether the parliament of india has the jurisdiction to pass such a bill article 130 of the constitution clearly states that the supreme court shall sit in delhi or in such other place or places, as the chief justice of india may, with the approval of the president, from time to time, appoint therefore, passing a bill in that direction with the assent of the president of india will help in implementing the constitutional provision and will not go against itsecond issue has been about shortage of judges the bill proposes just five judges, that too on a rotational basis, at each of the permanent benches the benefits of this clearly overrides any impact at supreme court at delhi, since the number of cases will also get transferred in a proportional manner to the bencheslastly, some experts feel that this could have an adverse impact on the constitutional superiority of the supreme court nothing could be farther from the truth as the increase in the faith of a common person that justice is tenable without travel across thousands of kilometres would, any day, be much larger than any minor adjustment that the clerical processes need to undertake in the short termthe time has come for the parliament to pass the bill which ensures the accessibility to justice irrespective of one's distance from delhi and also for the supreme court to favour this progressive legislationhence this billnew delhi;rajeev satavfebruary 10, 2016 ———— president's recommendation under articles 117(1) and 117(3) of the constitution[copy of letter no k-15019/6/2016-usi dated 5 may, 2016 from shri dv sadananda gowda, minister of law and justice to the secretary general, lok sabha]the president, having been informed of the subject matter of the supreme court of india (establishment of circuit benches at mumbai, chennai and kolkata) bill, 2016 by shri rajeev satav, mp, recommends the introduction of the bill under artile 117(1) and consideration under article 117(3) of the constitution in lok sabha financial memorandumclause 2 of the bill provides for the establishment of circuit benches of the supreme court at mumbai, chennai and kolkata the bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a recurring expenditure to the tune of about rupees five crore per annum would be involved from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure to the tune of rupees eighty crores is also likely to be involved———— a billto provide for the establishment of circuit benches of the supreme court of india at mumbai, chennai and kolkata————(shri rajeev satav, mp)gmgipmrnd—4253ls(s3)—02-07-2016