Starting next week, the Supreme Court will have specialised benches to hear cases related to land acquisition, direct and indirect tax, motor accident claims, tribunal matters and old criminal appeals, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said on Wednesday.
The CJI revealed this, when a Counsel mentioned a case for urgent hearing.
Justice Chandrachud told the Counsel to mention the matter before the special bench next week, stating that if he was not mistaken, a Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant would be taking up land acquisition matters.
The CJI had yesterday said that the Apex Court has decided to have a special bench from the next week onwards on Wednesdays and Fridays, which will solely deal with direct and indirect sales tax matters.
Last year in October, Justice Chandrachud had appreciated V. Lakshmikumaran, Founding Partner of tax law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan, for his suggestion on constituting a tax bench, which will go a long way in easing the pendency of tax cases before the top court of the country.
Justice Chandrachud, who was then the third senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, had said that this was a great decision and he would speak to Justice N.V. Ramana, who was then serving as the CJI.
In 2015, a tax bench comprising Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rohinton Nariman was constituted, which delivered over 800 judgments after its formation. This bench, which sat during the period between 2015 and 2016, was greatly appreciated by the Bar for its speed and quality of justice dispensation.