As a result, all transfer pleas pending before the Supreme Court will be decided before the winter recess starting Dec 17, D Y Chandrachud said.
Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud Friday said every bench of the Supreme Court will take up 10 transfer petitions and 10 bail applications every day.
The CJI told lawyers during mentioning hours that a decision to this effect was taken at a full court meeting and that as a consequence, all transfer petitions pending before the Supreme Court will be decided before the winter recess starting December 17.
“I must tell all the members of the Bar that there are about 3,000 transfer petitions pending. After having a full-court meeting with all my colleagues, we have all agreed that every day, every bench will take up 10 transfer petitions. We have 13 benches going on right now with the present strength. So, we will be disposing of about 130 (matters a day), 650 per week. So, in the five weeks, which we have before closing for the winter vacation, all transfer petitions shall be over,” he said.
CJI Chandrachud added that after the transfer petitions, all benches will take up 10 bail matters as they involve questions of personal liberty. “I have also directed that we will give priority to bail matters. So, 10 bail matters every day after transfer petitions because that is a matter of personal liberty. Ten transfer petitions because those are family matters, followed by 10 bail matters across all benches. Then we will start the regular work.”
On November 15, the CJI had said that he was “keeping a close watch on the listing of cases” to ensure that all fresh matters were listed for hearing without undue delay.
He pointed out that he was “also keeping a close tab on how many matters are being verified by the Registry on the removal of defects”.
Speaking at a felicitation event organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association a day before that, the CJI had said that “listing (of cases) has been a real problem” in the Supreme Court and added that the court is trying to do away with the human interface with the help of technology.
Stating that significant efforts were made during former CJI U U Lalit’s tenure to address concerns about listing, he said the process should be institutionalised so that it continues uninterrupted.
Source: The Indian Express
