Chief Justice of India HL Dattu

In an unprecedented move, the Chief Justice of India has set up a special bench of two judges to hear cases related to social issues.Chief Justice HL Dattu said starting next week, the "Social Justice Bench" will meet every Friday afternoon to handle Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and other petitions on issues ranging from the availability of night shelters for the homeless to whether children in government schools are being provided free mid-day meals and the efficacy of the Public Distribution Scheme which is meant to provide poor families access to subsidized grain.He said the Supreme Court must play "a proactive role to meet the goals of the constitution."The two judges who will handle these cases every Friday are Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice UU Lalit."I think this is a really encouraging step. We really hope that it will show very quick results," said Nikhil Dey, a social activist. "We know people for instance all over the country in spite the NREGA workers are not getting their wages, they are not getting wages on time, they are getting minimum wages. Food security, we have a case for so long."

Around 200 cases related to the issue of social justice are currently pending in the Supreme Court. The court registry says that 65 cases will be taken up in the first two weeks.