Supreme Court Reprimands Registry For Not Listing Case Violating Judicial Order

The Supreme Court recently expressed displeasure at members of the Registry staff for violating a judicial order regarding the listing of the matters on Regular list.

The Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that on November 22, 2023, the subject matters were directed to be listed on December 07, 2023 (Thursday). However, they came to be listed on December 08, when Senior Advocate DN Goburdhun pointed out that the cases ought to have been listed a day prior.

Taking note of the error, the court had called for a report from the Registrar (Judicial Listing) to explain why the matters were not listed as directed.

As per the Report of the Registrar, the concerned official, in listing the matter on December 08, had relied on a circular of the court dated February 14, 2023, which stipulated:

"...henceforth Wednesday & Thursday of the week shall be Regular hearing days and no “After Notice Miscellaneous Matter” shall be listed on both these days."

The Bench of Justices Oka and Bhuyan observed that in the batch of matters at hand, the lead matter was a Civil Appeal, which ought to have been listed, even in terms of the circular.

"...what is worrying is that some members of the staff have bye-passed the judicial order directing listing of the Civil Appeal along with the connected matters on 7th December, 2023 on regular list," the court said.

No action was however directed to be taken, in view of the Report.

"Though we are not inclined to initiate any action, what is worrying is that some members of the staff have bye-passed the judicial order directing listing of the Civil Appeal along with the connected matters on 7th December, 2023 on regular list. We wonder how judicial order could have been violated like this," the order stated.

Appearance: Senior Advocates DN Goburdhun, V Mohna and R Bala; AORs Dr. N Visakamurthy and Alok Gupta; Advocates Sachin Sharma, PV Yogeshswaran, Vinayak Sharma, and Dr. Arun Kr Yadav, Aga

Case Title: Commander N Rajesh Kumar v. Union of India & Ors., Civil Appeal No. 4866/2015 (and connected matters)

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 49

Click here to read/download order