Top Court Sets Up Special Benches To Hear Cases Of Death Penalty, Taxes

The Supreme Court on Saturday set up special benches to deal with cases of death penalty and tax matters.

An official source said that a bench comprising three judges will come into existence from next month to deal with the matters of capital punishment.

The source also said that two courts of two-judge benches will deal with tax matters.

Four new Supreme Court judges -- justices Krishna Murari, S Ravindra Bhat, V Ramasubramanian and Hrishikesh Roy -- took oath of office on September 23, taking the total strength of judges in the top court to 34.

To reduce the growing backlog of cases, the Supreme Court on September 20 had made public its decision to provide for sitting of a single-judge bench to hear appeals of bail and anticipatory bail in cases related to offences entailing jail term up to seven years.

According to the rules which have been amended, the single judge would also hear transfer petitions.