The government has proposed to set up a separate corporate b ench in the Supreme Court to exclusively try the corporate cases. This issue is being debated in the parliamentary standing committee and still awaiting a positive response from the highest judiciary. The proposal requires the corporate houses to pay a higher court fees than usually paid, for the speedy disposal of their cases. The move is an intelligent one looking at the present condition of the judiciary where there is a huge backlog of cases — March 2008 data puts the pendency at 45,887.¹

Corporate disputes are increasing each day and thereby consuming the precious time of the court. The appeals from decisions of tribunals set-up through special enactments like TRAI, SEBI, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, etc. hamper the justice delivery system of the court. Through the present proposal the appeals would lie directly to the Supreme Court, thus reducing the number of pending cases.

Another aspect which needs consideration is the financial condition of the lawyers and court. According to the proposal, the corporate houses would have to pay court fees as high as 10 times the present fees, which range between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 5,000, or even higher. The new fees may be decided according to the turnover of the companies involved or the litigating amount involved. ²This would surely increase the revenue of the court and improve the financial position.

But as every coin has two sides, we see that at one side, people in corporate sector have affirmative opinion about the establishment of the separate corporate b ench, but on the other side, many jurists and scholars are giving a negative view that such an establishment would act like an instrument of providing speedy justice only to the rich, and not to the poor. Thus, if we consider only the convenience of the corporate sector and increased revenue for the judiciary, it will be a one sided story. Therefore, the other crucial aspect is the issue of right to equality that has been raised by many jurists on the establishment of the corporate b ench. In an article, Justice Rajindar Sachar, Former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, has said that establishment of separate corporate b ench, will be moving away from the declaration in the Preamble of our Constitution, of conferring justice and equality of status and opportunity.³ He has further added:

“Are we to conclude that these parliamentarians accept that justice is to be weighed according to sacks of money? Accordingly, a convict on death row can be asked to wait for years of suffering but those at the banquet table at five star hotels should be promised a quick hearing!”

But this argument can be countered by saying that if we look to the more positive aspect of the establishment of the corporate b ench, we'll find that in reality justice is not being weighed according to sacks of money, instead, it is an effort to render speedy justice to the ordinary criminal cases, as the proposal for the establishment of separate corporate b ench, also includes the proposal to appoint and increase the number of judges.

Further if we refer to the reasons given by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan for the delay in justice, in his presentation on judicial reforms in 2008, one of the main reasons was that a large number of cases are filed by the financial institutions seeking recovery of money through criminal proceedings, by using the Negotiable Instruments Act. In other words, converting the courts into “collecting agents for these financial institutions” .⁴ Hon'ble judge has also added that many of these institutions are privately owned by people engaged in giving usurious loans, as a result of which the trials of ordinary criminal cases are seriously hampered.

As referred earlier, the attempt of Parliamentary Standing Committee is not merely to establish the separate b ench, but also to appoint and increase the number of judges. Therefore, we conclude that it will be a beneficial effort to establish a corporate b ench, which will not only bring revenue for the courts but also help in delivering speedy justice to people.

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* National Law Institute University , Bhopal .

1 Corporate matters to get priority in SC but at a cost, The Economic Times, July 9, 2008 .

2 ibid

3 Justice Rajindar Sachar, Is SC b ench for corporates desirable? (debate), The Economic Times, July 11, 2008 .

4 Speech delivered by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan in the All India Seminar on ‘Judicial Reforms' on February 23-24, 2008.