Supreme Court introduces new case listing norms to cut down oral mentioning before CJI
According to a circular issued by the Registrar Judicial of the Supreme Court of India, all fresh cases filed will be listed before an appropriate bench for hearing in the Supreme Court within four days.
In a bid to cut down on the daily ritual of advocates orally mentioning new and important cases before the Chief Justice of India and seeking early listing of the same, the Supreme Court on Wednesday published new rules on how fresh cases will be listed.
According to a circular issued by the Registrar Judicial of the Supreme Court of India, all fresh cases filed will be listed before an appropriate bench for hearing in the Supreme Court within four days.
The circular says the new arrangement will start from February 4 and fresh cases filed between Friday noon and Tuesday forenoon will be listed on Friday of the same week, while cases filed between Tuesday noon and Friday forenoon will be taken up on the Monday of the following week.
The new arrangement fast tracks listing of fresh cases; under the old arrangement it took anything between two to four weeks for a fresh case to be listed.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi last week indicated that there would soon be a system in place whereby all new cases filed in the top court will be taken up for hearing within five days.
“I have settled new norms for listing of cases which will ensure that every urgent matter comes up on the docket within four days of its filing, at the most five days. We are trying to get rid of urgent mentioning before the court, which unnecessarily takes away judicial time. The attempt is to do away with the practice of oral mentioning altogether,” said CJI Gogoi.
Currently, anything between 10 and 20 minutes are spent daily by the bench of the CJI for hearing pleas by advocates seeking urgent listing of their cases.
Vikrant Yadav, Secretary Supreme Court Bar Association and advocate on record of the Supreme Court, welcomed the move: “The Chief Justice of India has done a great job. Under the new rules cases will be listed quick and fast. Most of the matters being mentioned by the advocates are for early listing of the cases.”
Supreme Court advocate Viplav Sharma added that while he welcomed the move, he hoped there wouldn’t be a complete end to the process of “mentioning”. “ Advocates mention cases because there is an urgency. Let’s take an example of a commercial transaction, which, if not stopped, will result in irretrievable loss. Can that be stopped?The answer is no. So mentioning must continue.”
The circular is silent on whether advocates will be allowed to continue mentioning cases or if that practice will end.
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