Justice Oka highlighted that the Supreme Court registry already issued a circular in February 2023 instructing all departments to stop using the term “lower court.”
New Delhi – The Supreme Court of India has once again made it clear that trial courts must not be referred to as “lower courts,” as such terminology goes against the spirit of the Indian Constitution.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih, while acquitting two men who had been serving life sentences in a 1981 murder case, reiterated a strong message to all courts and legal institutions to stop using terms like “lower court” when referring to trial courts.
“Before we part with the judgment, we reiterate the direction issued in the order dated February 8, 2024, that the record of the trial court should not be referred to as ‘lower court record,'” said the bench in its judgment.
“Describing any court as a ‘lower court’ is against the ethos of our Constitution,” emphasized Justice Abhay S Oka, who authored the verdict.
Justice Oka highlighted that the Supreme Court registry had already issued a circular in February 2023 instructing all departments to stop using the term “lower court.” In this latest ruling, he also urged all High Courts to take note of this direction and implement it accordingly.
The verdict came while deciding appeals filed by two convicts who had challenged a 2018 Allahabad High Court judgment. The High Court had upheld the trial court’s order sentencing them to life imprisonment in a murder case dating back to 1981. The Supreme Court, however, reviewed the evidence and acquitted both men.
This is not the first time the top court has made such a statement. On February 8, 2024, a bench of Justices Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan had also directed the Supreme Court registry to stop using the term “lower court” altogether.
The court had then also stated that even when referring to documents or records, it must be avoided.
“Even the records from trial courts should not be referred to as ‘lower court records’,” the court had said in its earlier order.
Justice Abhay S Oka, who was elevated to the Supreme Court in August 2021, retired on Saturday, concluding a long and dedicated judicial career spanning 21 years and 9 months.
Reflecting emotionally on his time on the bench, he said:
“Judgeship became life and life became judgeship.”
He acknowledged that though being a judge does not offer the same financial gains as legal practice, it brings something far more meaningful:
“Judgeship is a beautiful concept. When you are a lawyer, you may have several constraints, but when you are a judge, nobody controls you except the Constitution, the laws, and your own conscience.”
