CJI calls liberal system of adjournments counterproductive; defends new rules | Latest News India

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday said a liberal system of adjournments in the Supreme Court will be counterproductive to the speedy disposal of cases as he defended the new rules introduced in February that have brought down the adjournment rate.

“I have one request and I hope it will be taken in the right spirit. I am repeatedly getting requests for re-circulation of adjournment letters…It is not going to be possible for us to go back to the earlier system. It will be counterproductive,” he told a gathering of judges and lawyers on the occasion of the Constitution Day.

“Under the earlier system, there were about 9,000 to 10,000 letters of adjournments every three months. That was more than 1,000 letters per day. In the present system, we have received 1,400 odd applications for adjournment in the past 11 months. This comes to around 150 applications in a month. That is a huge change.”

CJI Khanna’s predecessor DY Chandrachud introduced the new adjournment policy to curb the “adjournment culture” blamed among the reasons for the pendency of cases currently at over 80,000.

The new rules stipulated letters for adjournment to be circulated only once by one party or counsel. Upon such adjournments, the matters would automatically get listed within four weeks.

CJI Khanna called lawyers an integral part of the judicial process along with judges. He urged the members of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to rise to the principles and ideals of the Constitution Day Charter. SCBA president and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal read out the charter.

The CJI said judges come from the bar and go back. “The better the bar, the better the judges. Bar becomes the spokesperson and the first person to whom citizens come and repose faith…We refer to the judiciary as persons in robes, who are the judges. But the bar is part and parcel of the judiciary.”

He said the Constitution Day commemorating the framing of the Constitution should be an opportunity to introspect on the weaknesses in the system and examine the issues that need to be tackled.

Attorney general R Venkataramani in his speech said that India neither needs any advice nor be told to keep its house in order. “Instead of being cynics, Constitution Day must help us to look at what collectively can be done.” He referred to the pendency in the Supreme Court. He added it needs to be examined if the Supreme Court is to be a constitutional court or court of all causes which adds to the pendency.