An end to bulldozer justice!
The apex court judgment in the UP bulldozer case lays down the law to be followed by all governments, says Sanjeev Sirohi
In a shift from the prevailing practice, the Supreme Court on Tuesday barred the oral mentioning for the urgent listing and hearing of the matters including request for non-deletion of the already listed matters.
Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna today morning said that the oral requests for urgent listings and hearing of the freshly filed matters including old cases will no longer be entertained and the same will now be routed through email or written slips, stating reasons for urgency of the matter.
“No written or oral mentioning anymore. Only in email or written slip. Just state the reasons of urgency,” the Chief Justice Khanna said at the commencement of the court proceedings today.
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Petitioners will be required to clearly state the reasons for the urgency of their requests in these communications.
During the just retired Chief Justice DY Chandrachud’s tenure it was insisted that the requests for urgent listing or any other exigency be made through email, but still oral mentioning of the matters relating to demolition or threat of imminent arrest were entertained every day and in certain cases the mentioning used to result in the instant hearing of the matters or grant of interim relief.
Earlier in the past, during the tenure of the late Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia (CJI tenure May 2, 2010 – September 28, 2012), the practice of the urgent matter being mentioned orally at the Chief Justice’s court at the start of the day was discontinued, but his successors did not continue this practice.
During Chief Justice Kapadia’s term, the matters for urgent listing were mentioned before a registrar of the court, and those requiring urgent hearings used to be taken up in the post-lunch session of the court.
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