"No One Is Here" : Supreme Court Vacation Bench Rises In 30 Minutes After No Lawyer Appears In Regular Hearing Matters

A vacation bench of the Supreme Court had to rise within 30 minutes on Monday after adjourning all the regular hearing matters listed before it as there was no appearance by lawyers in any of the cases.

It may be noted that the bench had already heard the fresh matters in the first 30 minutes ( Item numbers 1-10). The cases which couldn't be taken up due to non appearance of lawyers were the regular hearing matters (item numbers 101-105) all dating back to 2014-2015.  

The bench had to direct that the same list for regular matters be repeated tomorrow as no counsel was present before it in these matters ,either physically or through virtual mode.

On seeing that no lawyers were physically present in the court for the regular hearing matters, Justice Oka asked the Court Staff, "Check on VC. Is anyone connected?".

"No one is here!", Justice Sundresh said.

"Repeat the same list tomorrow, no one is there today", the Bench observed. 

It may be noted that the Supreme Court had in May notified that the Regular Ready hearing matters will be taken up for hearing by the Vacation Benches from Monday to Friday if both parties agree.

It was clarified that only the matters from the notified subject categories will be taken up as per the guidelines and norms approved by the Chief Justice of India.

It was further notified that any Counsel and Party-in-Person who desire that their case which is pending and ready for Regular hearing be taken up during the Summer Vacation, 2022 will have to ensure that the case comes under any of the Subject Categories notified and obtain the consent of all the parties/Advocates appearing in the case.