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SC expresses displeasure over filing of bulky petitions
As a bunch of senior lawyers appeared in the appeals filed by Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation and several TV channels, the bench was livid over the sheer weight of the pleadings filed by them.
The Supreme Court on Friday chided the practice of filing bulky petitions running into hundreds of pages and wondered if it is being used as a tactic to “terrorise the judges”.
“How can someone file 51 volumes of pleadings in one case? Yesterday, we had to engage a lorry to carry this. We don’t want us to hear this matter or what? You are terrorising us by filing 51 volumes in a single case,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana remarked.
The court was hearing a clutch of appeals filed against the June 30 judgment of the Bombay high court which had partially upheld the validity of the new tariff order (NTO) issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in January 2020. The NTO had prescribed price ceilings on the rates charged by TV channels.
As a bunch of senior lawyers appeared in the appeals filed by Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation and several TV channels, the bench was livid over the sheer weight of the pleadings filed by them.
“Before you argue, just tell us why have you filed 51 volumes? Is it because you don’t want us to read anything?” the bench, which also included justice Surya Kant, asked senior advocate Darius Khambata who appeared for one of the petitioners.
Khambata responded by saying that there were several petitions listed together but the court was not satisfied with the reply. “You must file small volumes if you want to be heard. File convenience volumes before the next date. We will hear it later,” it told Khambata and other senior lawyers representing the petitioners.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the Union government, said that he would instead file his submissions of “only two pages”. The matter was then adjourned to August 18.
Minutes later, the bench came across yet another case with bulky case files. E-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart had challenged an order of Karnataka high court allowing the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to continue its investigation against them into alleged competition law violations.
Even before senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Flipkart, could commence his submissions, CJI Ramana questioned him for filing copious case papers.
“Why are there so many bulky case files? It looks like all of you want to terrorise the judges by filing voluminous paper books. You don’t want judges to come to court having read the files because of their size,” remarked the bench.
This case was also adjourned to August 9.
