OUT OF COURT
The first few weeks of a new Chief Justice are keenly watched by lawyers practising in the Supreme Court. This is because it is not just law that matters; often the predilections of judges also count in the profession. It is important to tack the sail according to the wind.
So far the signals were not very reassuring to them. Chief Justice J S Khehar has shown an eagerness to set new norms. His bench has started disposing of old cases in one hearing, without allowing adjournments. The more dramatic step is the imposition of fine on petitioners bringing frivolous cases. A former Bihar Assembly member, who complained about a local news report published 23 years ago, was told to pay ~10 lakh for squandering court time. A professor had to pay ~1 lakh for another wasteful exercise.
The judge has warned government lawyers about strict action for seeking adjournments. The government is the largest litigant and often the counsel is missing when the case is called out. It is common to find them coming illprepared and the judge has called them chronic adjournment seekers. Last week, the court found that the government was yet to file a comprehensive reply to a 1995 petition pointing out the dumping of hazardous wastes from foreign countries in Indian ports.
Corporate entities are not far behind. The judge remarked a few weeks ago that there is a tendency to move the Supreme Court against every interim order against them in any legal forum. Last year, one bench had imposed ~25 lakh on three companies for wasting judicial time. However, the judge’s observation shows that the situation has not improved.
The Supreme Court is said to be the most powerful one in any democratic Constitution. It has caused the fall of governments through cases like hawala, 2G spectrum and coal scam. More recently, its judgment in the disproportionate assets cases against J Jayalalithaa and V K Sasikala led to a week-long tragicomedy in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the court should be sensitive to cases that have political implications. If the court had delivered the Sasikala judgment within reasonable time, the situation would not have turned so ugly. The court closed arguments on June 7 last year and took eight months to deliver its verdict, that too after prompting from the Bar. The Supreme Court should follow the timeline set by it for the high courts.
In Anil Rai versus the State of Bihar, the court ruled that if the judgment does not come within three months of closing the arguments, the petitioner can move an application seeking early delivery of the judgment. If the delay is over six months, the case may be re-heard by another bench.
However, the Supreme Court does not follow its own rules. It rejected last year an appeal seeking particulars of judgments reserved and the period for which they remained so. Some high courts have taken the Anil Rai norms seriously and declare on top of each judgment the date of closing arguments and the date of delivery — the gap is normally a month. In the Supreme Court there is often a flood of judgments on the day some judges retire. In some Constitution bench cases, a few judges have written separate notes on how the last-minute flurry had handicapped them in reading the draft judgments of their brethren to help write their own.
Therefore, speedier delivery of judgments should be one of the priorities of the chief justice. Listing of old cases chronologically is another priority area. Ordinary citizens often wonder why the queue of the rich and the influential moves faster. There are decades-old cases among the 61,000 odd ones pending before the court. It is estimated that there are about 50 Constitution bench cases, which should be heard by five or more judges. Cases of high constitutional importance referred to larger benches by smaller ones are more than a hundred. After a long tussle between the judiciary and the executive, five new judges joined the Supreme Court last week. With 28 judges sitting in 14 courts, the disposals should be faster. The Chief Justice should press this advantage and set precedents that last.