Mr. President, Sir, the High Court has got an inherent power to call for the record of any case and dispose of it. Article 204 says that the High Court shall, if there is any substantial question of law as to the interpretation of this Constitution involved in the case, call for record of the case and dispose of the case. My honourable Friend, Prof. Shah, wants that instead of the word ‘shall’ it should be ‘may’. If you want to have the word ‘may’, the inherent power is already there and according to the inherent power, if there is a substantial question of law, or no point of law at all, it can call for the record and dispose of the case. Therefore, the word ‘may’ does not help us at all. This point has been dealt with very thoroughly by my honourable Friend Dr. Bakshi Tek Chand and I do not wish to repeat the arguments. The only thing that I wish to say is this. Suppose a substantial question of law is involved, according to Professor Shah, the High Court may call for the record or it may not. It is not incumbent on the High Court to call for the record. Suppose, the High Court does not call for the record, look at the waste of time. By the time a case is decided in the subordinate court and goes to the High Court, it may take three or four years. Also look at the amount of expenses that will be incurred in the lower court as well as in the appellate court. Apart from that, a very important point of law will be pending and nobody will know what the decision is going to be. The sooner a substantial question of law is decided by the High Court, the better it is. Therefore, I oppose the amendment moved by Professor Shah.
