Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit on Monday, his first working day as CJI, said regular cases pending in the Supreme Court for detailed hearing would be heard in the pre-lunch session from Tuesday to Thursday every week.
Public interest litigation (PIL) petitions would be heard post-lunch on these days. Mondays have been reserved for fresh cases. The court would also use Fridays to hear miscellaneous cases, including PILs.
‘Regular matters’ often involve complex questions of law and multiple petitions. They require detailed hearing for hours by the court. More often, Benches hear PILs with no time left for regular cases. The latter tend to get adjourned day after day, much to the chagrin of lawyers and litigants waiting, in some cases, for months together. The pandemic and restricted conditions of functioning had added to their woes. Technological challenges also played a part in the court being unable to hear regular cases, which involve multiple lawyers and a multitude of case records gathered over the years.
On Monday, Chief Justice Lalit further indicated that the court was finalising a new mechanism for listing cases in the Supreme Court transparently.
"We will have a new mechanism by Thursday. Till then, we will look at it in chamber and if urgent we will list it… For mentioning, we will go back to the original practice of mentioning before the Registrar," the CJI addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who had enquired about any changes in the mentioning practice.
Monday was heavy-duty with 15 Benches of the Supreme Court hearing 60 cases each. There were about 91 PIL petitions. The CJI’s Bench itself heard over 60 cases out of which 10 were PIL petitions.
Last week, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud was heard warning lawyers that the following week would be “chock-a-block”.
The Supreme Court will have two five-judge Constitution Benches hearing four cases each. One of the Benches is led by Chief Justice Lalit.
The Constitution Benches are sitting on Tuesday.
