In a first, single judge disposes of 33 cases

For the first time in the Supreme Court, a single-judge court heard and disposed of 33 cases on Monday.

Justice Deepak Gupta sat alone because his senior colleague — M Shantanagoudar, who was to head the bench — was unavailable. Much to the surprise of the advocates and litigants, justice Gupta held court on his own.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, present in court in connection with a land acquisition matter of Telanagana, could not resist himself from drawing the court’s attention to the unprecedented practice.

“Your Lordships during the last 25 years, for the first time I am seeing a single judge sitting and dealing with the cases in Supreme Court,” Rohatgi said. However, Justice Gupta did not comment.

Sources said that justice Shantanagoudar apparently reported unwell, following which Chief Justice JS Khehar convinced justice Gupta to hear the 33 cases listed. Since the court is on a summer vacation, most judges are out of the Capital.

As per SC rules, a quorum of two judges is required to hear cases. This rule is applicable in high courts or trial courts. In HCs a single judge can decide cases.

Before taking up the regular work, justice Gupta also dealt with nearly a dozen “mentioning matters” — important matters brought to the court’s notice and requested to be listed for urgent hearing by advocates.

Eight judges, including the Chief Justice, constituted the first sitting of the SC. The Constitution left it to the Parliament to increase the strength. In the early years, all the judges sat together to hear the cases. But with the increase in workload, Parliament increased the strength from eight in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960,18 in 1978, and gradually to the present 31 over the past 40 years. At present, there are 27 judges.