All Judges Are On Same Page, Correct State Of Affairs Not Reported- CJI On Media Reports About Justice Sanjay Kaul's Order
The Chief Justice of India, Justice U. U. Lalit has responded to media reports about rift between Judges about the new system of listing of cases before the Apex Court.
Chief Justice Lalit has said that all judges are on the same page about the listing system and that the media has not correctly reported the state of affairs.
"Lot many things have been said about many things including listing. Let me clarify, it is true that we have taken this new style of listing. There are naturally bound to be some teething problems. Whatever has been reported is not the correct state of affairs. We all judges are completely on the same page", the CJI said while speaking at the programme organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) to felicitate him on becoming the CJI.
"The new listing system is not giving an adequate time to take up matters fixed for hearing like the present case as there are number of matters within the span of Afternoon' session", the Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul had said in its order of September 13.
The Bench also comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka passed the order while hearing a criminal case.
Continuing to speak about the new system of listing, Justice Lalit said, "from the 29th till yesterday, we could dispose of more than 5000 matter, 5200 to be precise, as against filing which was just about 1135. So fresh filing is 1135, the disposal is 5200".
"That is all possible because of the efforts put in by my brother and sister judges and all of you the members of the bar. It s true that as a result of this changeover, there have been certain instances where the matters got listed at the 11th hour with the shortest possible notice that created tremendous amount of workload, additional workload for the judges, for the advocates and I am really indebted to all my brother and sister judges for discharging everything with a smiling face and that is the reason why we have been able to dispose of something like 5200 matters as against 1135 filings. Which means that we have been able to reduce the arrears by at least about 4000", he added.
He also clarified that most of the old matters that were listed had become more or less infractous.
As per the new system of listing cases, every Monday and Friday, 30 judges are to sit in a combination of two and deal with over 60 miscellaneous matters of each bench, including the fresh PILs.
The CJI said in the event held on Thursday that it had always been his dream to become a judge of the Apex Court and his wife was always aware of what was in his mind so there was no necessity to consult his wife when he got the actual call offering him judgeship. That is the reason I said in one of the speeches that when it came and when Justice R M Lodha (the then CJI) offered me (judgeship) I did not even consult my wife, it was in that background. It was not as if no husband can ever do such a thing without consulting his wife, he said.
Revealing the secret behind his distinct way of arguing a matter when he was a lawyer, Justice Lalit said the man behind this was Attorney General K K Venugopal who has always been a role model to him. The way Venugopal argues and places a matter and its facts so calmly put even the court in comfort, he said.
Regarding the demands made by SCBA including a better library and facilities for lawyers, the CJI said all he could do is to promise that he will appoint committees to look into these demands and take decisions in this regard.
