SC halts practice of circulating adjournment slips till December 15

SC discontinues adjournment slips till December 15

The Supreme Court on December 6 released a notification announcing the discontinuation of the practice of circulating adjournment slips/ letters till December 15, effective immediately.

According to the notification "In order to accommodate the request of listing maximum number of cases in the interest of litigants and in view of the ensuing winter vacation, all stakeholders to note that the practice of circulating adjournment slips/letters is discontinued with immediate effect till 15.12.2023."

However, adjournment will be granted by the court in case of genuine difficulty, the notification read.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has over the last few months deprecated the practice of circulating adjournment slips and letters. Today, the CJI told the lawyers present in his court that 205 adjournment slips were circulated on December 4.

Last month, the CJI urged lawyers not to seek frequent adjournments and turn the Supreme Court into a 'tareek pe tareek' (date after date) court.

The CJI raised concerns about the practice of lawyers circulating advance letters seeking adjournments, especially on miscellaneous days when fresh cases are scheduled for hearing. He said, "Lawyers have circulated 3,688 letters for adjournment in just September and October." The top judge also noted that while lawyers seek urgent listing of cases, they circulate a letter for adjournment nullifying the urgency.

The CJI said: "Since September 2023, 2,361 matters have been mentioned for early hearing. Fifty-nine matters are being mentioned on an average every day. On the one hand, matters are listed on an expedited basis, on the other hand, they are mentioned, then they get listed and then they are adjourned."

Asking lawyers to avoid the practice of circulating these adjournment letters, he noted that though the SC does not ask why adjournments are being sought and advised lawyers not to misuse this option.

As per the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) the SC has a pendency of 80,083 cases. Of these nearly 25,000 cases are less than one year old.

Over 33,300 cases have been instituted in the Supreme Court in 2023 of which 4,472 were instituted in November 2023. More than 3800 cases were disposed of in November 2023.