Supreme Court Bar Association Raises Concerns Over New Mentioning Procedure In Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has penned a letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court of India, outlining significant concerns regarding the process of mentioning, filing, and listing of matters before the country's apex court.

The SCBA states that earlier miscellaneous fresh matters for hearing were mentioned before CJI immediately after receiving the diary number of the case. But as per the new circular dated 28th June, 2023, the mentioning is only permitted once verification is done.

The SCBA expressed its concern that there’s no deadline in such verification process which takes a lot of time and leads to delays in mentioning. Therefore, the association has urged for the restoration of the previous, more expedient approach.

Furthermore, the SCBA drew attention to the evolving procedure for mentioning fresh matters. In the past, such matters could be directly mentioned before the concerned bench, but the current process involves submitting a mentioning performa and an urgency letter to a dedicated mentioning officer. The SCBA has called for the elimination of this additional step, asserting that it contributes to unnecessary complications and delays.

The SCBA also detailed several challenges encountered within the e-filing portal. It revealed that defects in filings are not promptly indicated in the portal, resulting in delayed rectification of errors. Additionally, the process of verifying and uploading further defects has been plagued by considerable delays, impeding the efficient progression of cases. The association lamented the absence of an online option for paying deficit court fees, further compounded by untimely physical payment processing.

The SCBA Secretary raised concerns over the technical glitches within the e-filing portal and the apparent inadequacy of resource persons in effectively addressing these issues. In response, the association proposed the creation of a walk-through video and a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to simplify the portal's operation and assist users in navigating its functionalities.

The letter lamented the ad-hoc pattern of listing of matters on the Supreme Court website.The SCBA requested the Secretary-General to resolve these issues on an urgent basis.

Earlier, the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association had passed a resolution against the new mentioning procedure.

Click Here To Read The Letter