Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant refuses a same day urgent hearing, saying cases won’t be listed immediately unless someone’s life or liberty is at stake, highlighting judges’ heavy workload and responsibilities.
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NEW DELHI: In a morning mentioning session today at the Supreme Court of India, Justice Surya Kant, who is poised to become the next Chief Justice of India in November, made a pointed observation about the heavy workload faced by judges. His remarks came in response to a lawyer’s plea for same-day listing of a case concerning the auction of a residential house in Rajasthan.
Emphasizing that urgent hearings are generally reserved for matters directly impacting personal liberty, Justice Kant said
“Unless someone is about to be hanged, I will never list a mentioned case on the same day.”
The statement underscored the often-overlooked pressures and long working hours that judges face.
Justice Kant elaborated further, telling counsel Shobha Gupta,
“You people don’t understand the plight of judges. Do you know how many hours we have been working and how many hours we get sleep?”
He stressed that only cases involving immediate threats to life or liberty warrant same-day listing.
In this instance, the auction notice had been issued last week, and a portion of the outstanding dues had already been paid. Consequently, Justice Kant clarified that the matter would not be heard immediately, though he instructed the court master to list it for Friday, ensuring the client’s concerns were addressed in a timely but measured manner.
This incident comes in the wake of a Supreme Court rule introduced in August, which prohibits senior advocates from seeking urgent listings for cases that are not scheduled for the day. The rule, instituted by Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, aimed to streamline court procedures and reduce unnecessary pressure on judges, ensuring that urgent hearings are reserved for truly critical matters.
Oral mentioning refers to the practice where lawyers make a verbal request in court, typically before the Chief Justice of India (CJI), to have their cases listed for an urgent hearing. This allows them to bypass the usual long-winded filing procedures and directly appeal for their case to be heard out of turn, based on urgency.