Not practical to have fixed timelines for adjudication of cases before Constitution Benches: Govt

New Delhi: Over 2,000 cases have been heard and disposed of by various Supreme Court Constitution benches since 1950 and 50 are still pending, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.In a written reply, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said seven cases are pending before nine-judge Constitution benches, eight before seven-judge benches and 35 before five-judge benches.Since 1950 when the top court was established, as many as 2,192 cases have been heard and disposed of by Constitution benches, including 29 from 2020 till date.

He said the pending cases before the Constitution Benches of the Supreme Court are not categorised on the basis of “having serious consequences for the legal system of the country”.The disposal of cases is within the exclusive domain of the judiciary, Meghwal noted.However, as per the information provided by the Supreme Court, Constitution bench cases often involve intricate legal issues and the arguments can span from several days to months.These matters require extensive analysis and detailed examination of the law.Consequently, it is impractical to define stringent parameters or fixed timelines for expediting the adjudication of such cases, he underlined.