The News Freedom
Chandigarh, November 3
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud on Friday urged lawyers not to seek adjournments in fresh matters, saying he does not want the Supreme Court to become a ‘tarikh-pe-tarikh’ court, as per media reports. At the outset of the day’s proceedings, the CJI flagged the issue of lawyers seeking adjournments in fresh matters and said in the last two months adjournment slips were moved in 3,688 matters by advocates, The Indian Express reported.
The Chief Justice said the adjournment slips were circulated the moment the cases were listed following urgent mentioning by lawyers for early hearing, according to The Hindu report.
The Bar and Bench reports that the CJI pointed out that from September to October, a total of 3,688 adjournments were sought by lawyers and this, he said, defeats the very purpose of expediting cases. “Matters are mentioned for being expedited but on the other hand adjournment is sought. This cannot become a tareek pe tareek court. This defeats the trust of the citizens and thus this is our moral responsibility. This does not show a good image of our court to the country” he stated, the Bar and Bench report said.
“I have been seeing that period from filing to listing is reducing. We could not have achieved this without SCBA and SCAORA,” the CJI said. “For November 3, we have 178 adjournment slips. For each miscellaneous days since October, 150 adjournment slips were there on each day and from September to October there was 3,688 adjournment slips were circulated. This defeats the very purpose of expediting the case,” he said, the Bar and Bench report said.