The judges pointed out that many lawyers now include legal citations and grounds for appeal right in the synopsis of the case, which is not how pleadings are traditionally supposed to be structured.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India, on Thursday, strongly criticised a rising trend among lawyers of filing bulky appeals filled with unnecessary paperwork and excessive documentation.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan expressed concern over the way appeals are being prepared and presented before the apex court.
The judges pointed out that many lawyers now include legal citations and grounds for appeal right in the synopsis of the case, which is not how pleadings are traditionally supposed to be structured.
The court said, “What is this tendency? In synopsis, case law is cited, grounds are there in synopsis. And there is a very bulky compilation. Every matter we see now in Supreme Court, in first part of synopsis people cite quotations then the grounds of appeal are reproduced in synopsis. This must stop.”
The bench further questioned the increasing number of pages and the excessive material submitted with each appeal. They emphasised that the problem seems to be more common among those who can afford to file long appeals and hire expensive senior advocates.
The court remarked, “What kind of bulky compilation is being thrown at us? The bulk of the compilation depends upon the monetary capacity of the litigant and capacity to engage senior advocate. This is happening everyday. We have forgotten the basic rule that pleadings should not contain law.”
The Supreme Court expressed its dismay at the way synopses are being misused. Instead of being a concise summary of the case, they are often filled with quotations, case laws, and even the same grounds of appeal already stated later in the document.
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The bench was clearly unhappy with this misuse of legal procedure and stated, “We deprecate this tendency. A copy of this order shall we forwarded to the Supreme Court advocates on-record association.”
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