New Delhi: The Supreme Court must not become a “tareek pe tareek” (a date after date) court, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud emphasized on Friday, disclosing that the lawyers asked for adjournments in 3,688 cases in the last two months while most of these cases were mentioned for urgent hearings.
“We don’t want it to become a ‘tareek pe tareek’ court. This defeats the trust of citizens in this court. With so many cases being asked to be adjourned, it does not send a good image of this court,” the CJI addressed the lawyers present in the court.
According to the National Judicial Data Grid, as of July 1, 2023, there are over 5.02 crore cases pending in various courts in India. Of these, over 4.41 crore cases are pending in district courts, over 60.62 lakh are pending in high courts, and over 69,766 cases are pending in the Supreme Court.
Adjournments are a major contributor to the pendency of cases in Indian courts. According to a report by the National Law Commission, adjournments are sought in over 50% of cases in Indian courts.
“I have been monitoring filing to first hearing of matters to ensure that period is reduced to minimum. At the same time, let us compare this with the data I have. There are 178 adjournment slips filed today. On an average, per miscellaneous day, 154 adjournments are circulated. There was a total of 3,688 adjournments in the last two months. This defeats the purpose of filing and listing,” the CJI rued.
Further, Justice Chandrachud highlighted that the time lag in the Supreme Court between the filing of a case and its listing before a bench has been curtailed majorly with all fresh cases getting listed within a week they are filed.
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