Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Friday came down heavily over the lawyers seeking adjournment of the very same matters, which were urgently listed on their request.
Requesting the members of the Bar not to seek adjournments of matters unless it was ‘very very necessary,’ the CJI said he did not want this court to be a ‘tareekh-pe-tareekh’ court. He added that this defeated the trust of citizens in this court.
Praising the efforts of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association, he said the reduction in the time between filing a case and its listing for a hearing & crediting could not have been achieved without SCBA and SCAORA.
However, he pointed out the significant number of adjournment slips filed by lawyers.
Citing the statistics, which showed a significant number of adjournment requests, CJI Chandrachud highlighted the inefficiency of the practice and emphasised the importance of preventing the court from becoming associated with prolonged delays.
He said there were 178 adjournment slips on November 3. On an average from September 1 to 3, 154 adjournments were circulated per miscellaneous day. This totalled to 3688 adjournments in two months.
In contrast, there have been 2,361 cases mentioned for urgent listing in the court since September 2023, with an average of 59 cases mentioned daily. This created a paradox, where the cases were initially listed quickly, but then subsequently adjourned, he added.
He said on one hand, matters were listed on expedited basis, on the other hand, they were mentioned, then they got listed and then they were adjourned. This defeated the purpose of filing and listing, added CJI Chandrachud.