New guidelines for mentioning cases for urgent listing before benches have been issued by the Supreme Court of India. The new rules adopted by CJI DY Chandrachud disallow advocates to mention cases on the same day after submitting them in court. A weekly schedule has been fixed for registering and hearing for mentioning cases for urgent listing before the benches.
According to new rules, fresh cases that are verified by the registry on a Saturday, Monday, or Tuesday will be scheduled for a hearing before the benches on the following Monday, and the attorneys do not need to bring them before the Chief Justice of India. Similarly, matters verified from Wednesday to Friday will be listed the next Friday.
The bar and other parties were informed of the mechanism that CJI D.Y. Chandrachud will use to mention cases for their urgent listing commencing on 3 July through a circular that the registrars of judicial administration published on June 28. The supreme court will reopen on July 3 following the summer break.
The circular read, “Miscellaneous fresh matters which are verified on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday shall be automatically listed on the following Monday. Miscellaneous matters which are verified on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday shall be automatically listed on the following Friday.”
The circular further stated that counsels intending to have their cases heard the next day must now submit their mentioning pro forma by 3 p.m. on the day previous to the scheduled hearing in order to be listed for consideration. The pro forma and a letter of urgency must be provided to the mentioning officer by 10:30 a.m. for those who want to be listed that day, according to the statement.
Afterwards, the CJI will make a decision on the matter during lunchtime or “as the exigency may warrant.” The lawyers must first appear before the mentioning officer with the pro forma and urgency letter for after-notice and regular hearing items that are requested to be mentioned promptly. It informed, “No mentionings other than those in the mentioning lists uploaded a day prior shall be permitted for such matters.”
In accordance with protocol, advocates and litigants are permitted to mention their cases for out-of-turn listing and hearing before the CJI’s court by advancing the basis of urgency. The highest court has announced a new roster for the allocation of new cases to 15 benches beginning on July 3. PILs will be heard in the first three courts presided over by the CJI and the two senior-most justices.
Earlier, advocates could submit mentioning proformas by 10.25 for all fresh cases or for cases not allowed to a bench, and the CJI used to hear the mentionings 10.30 am onwards and allot dates. In some days, as many as 300 items were mentioned by the lawyers.