The Supreme Court on 3rd December, 2014 constituted Social Justice Bench to deal with cases connected with women, children and the poor people on the point that some special approach is essential while handling such cases. The Court also highlighted that the Courts should be positive to guarantee speedy disposal of the matters and to assist those persons to get justice faster. The rights enshrined under the Constitution should be invoked to the women, children and the underprivileged. The Special Bench will assemble from December 12 onwards every Friday evening 2 PM. It is to be noted that numerous cases are pending before the Supreme Court for years.
The hon’ble Chief Justice of India stated that special approach shall be taken to dispose off those cases faster to enable the people to realize their rights as provided to them under the Indian Constitution. In pursuance of this objective, the CJI has ordered for the formation of Social Justice Bench consisting of Justice U U Lalit and Justice Madan B Lokur to consider the cases that deal with social issues. When such cases are reviewed, under the heading social justice, many issues that emphasize social matters are included. The Court also expressed that there are some matters where the Constitutional goals should act in a practical role to meet the objectives.
The main concern of the bench will be to clear off the Public Interest Litigation petitions and other cases like absence of providing free lunch to children in the schools run by Government and also the efficacy of the Public Distribution Scheme that is formulated to give grains at subsidized rates to the needy. Hence, the move of the Supreme Court is expected to bring faster results and is definitely a heartening step. Other social issues are the food security problem, improper wage distribution among the NREGA workers, educational issues and environmental matters. It is proposed to take 65 social litigations in the coming weeks out of the 200 cases that are pending before the Apex Court.