Then, Sir, there is another kind of safety in allowing appeals in criminal cases on substantial questions of law to the Supreme Court. At present there are in the High Court differences of opinion of matters of law. That is inevitable because legislation deals with general principles and its application to concrete cases leaves room for difference of opinion amongst the different High Court. My submission is that if different High Courts are likely to hold conflicting views on points of law, that would be a ground for allowing appeals to go to the Supreme Court, for in that way alone the law can be made uniform and harmonious. It has many times happened that in the Privy Council accused persons have obtained special leave on the ground of conflicting opinions among the High Court which must be settled in the right way. Their Lordships have in such cases granted special leave, although they were not prima facie fully sure that on the facts of that particular case any prejudice had actually resulted, but they gave the benefit of the doubt and granted special leave pending a more detailed consideration. Ultimately the decisions of the Privy Council in those cases have thrown new light on important principles of law criminal cases. A perusal of the Privy Council judgments in criminal cases during the last thirty or forty years will show many cases which have settled many difficult and complex questions of law and have made the law uniform. If the law is made uniform the result would be contraction in the number of criminal appeals in the Sessions Courts and the High Court and there would be economy in the long run. In these circumstances, I submit that the question of law should be regarded with some amount of veneration, and at least on substantial questions of law we ought to allow a man to invoke the intervention of the highest Court. What would be the Supreme Court worth, if it is not supreme in matters of criminal law? I think the supremacy of the law must be really guaranteed by making the Supreme Court really supreme in these matters. I submit, Sir, that we have already accepted article 112. That empowers the Supreme Court to grant special leave in all cases included.
