Supreme Court Advises High Courts To Avoid 'Off The Cuff' Oral Remarks Which Can Be Damaging To Persons

The Supreme Court on Friday observed that High Courts should exercise restraint in making "off-the-cuff remarks" during hearings as the same may be damaging to persons and can given misgivings about them.

The observation came from a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, which was hearing the suo moto case on COVID-related issues.

When the nearly four hour hearing was drawing to a close, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta made a complaint before the bench regarding certain strong observations made by the High Courts while hearing cases relating to COVID.

"Your lordships are in the capacity of karta of our HUF(Hindu Undivided Family). So I am making this submission. In some writ petitions and applications strong observations are made putting the central government in dock, state government in dock. It should be avoided. In High Courts serious observations are made".

"No no no! I am not talking about Your Lordships at all! I only wanted to say, since Your lordships have assumed the role of the Karta of our HUF, some high courts have made some very strong observations. The courts' concern is shared by everybody, but in these times of crisis, we must be very circumspect. Even as lawyers, we must be very circumspect", clarified the SG.

Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the state of Bihar, also backed the SG's submission –"Some high courts have even gone to the extent of castigating every officer on duty. It is very demoralising. They have gone to the extent of saying that they are not doing their job and are not capable of performing as government officers".