SCBA Writes to CJI Seeking Increase In Number Of Vacation Benches, Restore Oral & Listed Mentioning

Supreme Court Bar Association's President Senior Adv Vikas Singh has on Tuesday written to CJI Ramana requesting him to increase the number of vacation Benches, expand the category of matters that can come during vacations and restoration of the system of oral and listed mentioning

While stating that as per the top court's convention a Vacation judge heading the Vacation Bench exercised power of a CJI as far as listing of matters is concerned, Singh has also requested the CJI to restore the status of a Vacation Bench as per that convention.

According to Singh, as per the convention the Vacation Bench only took up urgent issues and did not start hearing part heard matters before another Bench. Further, once a judicial order is passed to list a matter by Vacation bench, it could not be deleted by Registry under any circumstances.

Singh has stated that practice followed for hearing matters during Vacation bench has always been that, the Vacation judge/Bench exercised powers in respect of all special Benches, hearing a particular matter when a case of urgency was made out and urgent orders were required to be passed.

Referring to his last meeting with the CJI, Singh has stated that it was discussed that considering increase in pendency of cases this year, the number of Vacation benches would be increased which hasn't been done as there are only 2 Vacation benches functioning presently.

Apart from the functioning of only 2 vacation Benches, Singh also pointed out that Tuesday's Causelist 'surprisingly stated' that oral mentioning will not permitted, even though it has never been practice of the Court to forbid mentioning before Vacation Benches.

It has to be noted that, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that directions will be issued to the registry to list the urgency applications before the Chief Justice of India, after several senior lawyers also raised complaints regarding non-listing of urgent matters during the vacation.