Exclusive bench to hear criminal pleas

The Hyderabad High Court has constituted an exclusive division bench to hear criminal appeals in cases where the accused has been given a lawyer at the expense of the state through the legal aid cell.

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had written to the Chief Justices of High Courts across the country soon after taking oath as CJI, asking them to explore the possibility of hearing such criminal appeals/jail appeals, in which legal aid has been provided, on Saturdays by a specifically-constituted bench, after taking the consent of the legal-aid counsel and state counsel concerned.

The CJI suggested early hearings on criminal appeals filed directly by inmates languishing in jails to achieve the target of hearing appeals not more than five-yearsold.

According to officials of the judiciary, the High Courts of Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka constituted special benches which have already started functioning. The Delhi High Court has constituted four benches to deal with such appeals.

Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan has constituted the bench with Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar and Justice A. Shankar Narayana and it will hear cases on September 16, Saturday.

The Registry has identified 37 cases and listed them for hearing on Saturday by the bench.