SOON AFTER being sworn in on Wednesday, new Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi disallowed lawyers from mentioning cases for hearing, saying he and his colleagues were working out the “parameters”. He later said they were “trying to evolve a system which can produce better results”.
SOON AFTER being sworn in on Wednesday, new Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi disallowed lawyers from mentioning cases for hearing, saying he and his colleagues were working out the “parameters”. He later said they were “trying to evolve a system which can produce better results”.
This marked a shift from his predecessor, former CJI Dipak Misra’s practice of allocating the first 20 minutes of every working day for mentioning urgent matters.
“No mentioning,” CJI Gogoi told the crowd of lawyers gathered in his courtroom, shortly after being sworn in as the 46th Chief Justice of India by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He said only cases where somebody was set to be executed or evicted soon would be entertained for urgent mentioning.
“We will work out the parameters, then we will see as to how mentioning will be done,” said the CJI, who shared the bench with Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.
Elaborating on this at a felicitation organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) later in the day, the CJI said: “Let me tell you, me and my colleagues are trying to evolve a system which can produce better results. We are working on it. We started working on it quite some time back. And maybe in a couple of days, we will have it. We are trying to reduce the time between filing of cases and the listing of cases on board. We are trying to introduce a system by which the cases don’t get dropped from the list. And if this happens, if we succeed, perhaps a large segment of mentioning will go away automatically.”
“So, it’s not the Chief Justice who is going to drop mentioning. The mentioning is going to die by itself. These are the kind of solutions that me and my colleagues are trying and we hope we have your cooperation. And we will launch it very soon. Time is short. We have to move very, very quickly. We have to get the system to produce the best results possible in the shortest time, This is what we are trying,” he said.
Responding to SCBA president Vikas Singh’s remarks that he was seen as a strict judge, he said: “I am what I am. I can’t change.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Registry put out the new Roster of business with effect from October 3. According to this, PILs will be heard by the CJI. Justice Madan B Lokur, the second most senior Judge, will also hear PILs that are allocated by the CJI.
Though the allocation of matters in the Supreme Court has always followed the Roster system, the Roster was made public for the first time in February this year. According to this, PILs were allocated to the CJI. However, in practice, many of these PILs were marked by the CJI to other benches as well.
The bench headed by CJI Gogoi will also deal with matters relating to social justice, elections, company law, monopoly and restricted trade practices, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Security Exchange Board of India, Insurance, and Reserve Bank of India.
The CJI has also kept with himself matters concerning arbitration, habeas corpus, criminal cases, contempt of court and ordinary civil matters. His bench will deal with issues relating to the appointment of Constitutional functionaries, statutory appointments and appointment of other law officers. Besides, matters pertaining to judicial officers and Commissions of Enquiry would also be allocated to the bench headed by the CJI.
Earlier, responding to Attorney General K K Venugopal’s demand that the government should increase the age and salaries of judges, CJI Gogoi said that would not work unless the “aura and dignity of the institution” is maintained. “Increase the age to whatever you want, give as much money as you want to the judges by way of salary, I don’t think that unless other issues are tackled, and this issue is the aura and dignity of the institution, the aura and dignity of the office, there won’t be too many takers. You may raise it to 70, you may raise it to 20 lakhs, it’s not going to work,” he said.
He said he would take up the issue of filling judicial vacancies on an urgent basis. “Filling up of vacancies is very important. I’m taking it up on priority… filling up the 5,000 vacancies we have in the subordinate judiciary. I’m trying to do it in about three to four months,” he said. “But filling up of vacancies is not going to solve the problem. It is a solution, it is not the whole solution. The solution lies in getting the right man, and the right man will come only if the office maintains its aura and dignity,” he said.
This marked a shift from his predecessor, former CJI Dipak Misra’s practice of allocating the first 20 minutes of every working day for mentioning urgent matters.
“No mentioning,” CJI Gogoi told the crowd of lawyers gathered in his courtroom, shortly after being sworn in as the 46th Chief Justice of India by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He said only cases where somebody was set to be executed or evicted soon would be entertained for urgent mentioning.
“We will work out the parameters, then we will see as to how mentioning will be done,” said the CJI, who shared the bench with Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph.
Elaborating on this at a felicitation organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) later in the day, the CJI said: “Let me tell you, me and my colleagues are trying to evolve a system which can produce better results. We are working on it. We started working on it quite some time back. And maybe in a couple of days, we will have it. We are trying to reduce the time between filing of cases and the listing of cases on board. We are trying to introduce a system by which the cases don’t get dropped from the list. And if this happens, if we succeed, perhaps a large segment of mentioning will go away automatically.”
“So, it’s not the Chief Justice who is going to drop mentioning. The mentioning is going to die by itself. These are the kind of solutions that me and my colleagues are trying and we hope we have your cooperation. And we will launch it very soon. Time is short. We have to move very, very quickly. We have to get the system to produce the best results possible in the shortest time, This is what we are trying,” he said.
Responding to SCBA president Vikas Singh’s remarks that he was seen as a strict judge, he said: “I am what I am. I can’t change.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court Registry put out the new Roster of business with effect from October 3. According to this, PILs will be heard by the CJI. Justice Madan B Lokur, the second most senior Judge, will also hear PILs that are allocated by the CJI.
Though the allocation of matters in the Supreme Court has always followed the Roster system, the Roster was made public for the first time in February this year. According to this, PILs were allocated to the CJI. However, in practice, many of these PILs were marked by the CJI to other benches as well.
The bench headed by CJI Gogoi will also deal with matters relating to social justice, elections, company law, monopoly and restricted trade practices, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Security Exchange Board of India, Insurance, and Reserve Bank of India.
The CJI has also kept with himself matters concerning arbitration, habeas corpus, criminal cases, contempt of court and ordinary civil matters. His bench will deal with issues relating to the appointment of Constitutional functionaries, statutory appointments and appointment of other law officers. Besides, matters pertaining to judicial officers and Commissions of Enquiry would also be allocated to the bench headed by the CJI.
Earlier, responding to Attorney General K K Venugopal’s demand that the government should increase the age and salaries of judges, CJI Gogoi said that would not work unless the “aura and dignity of the institution” is maintained. “Increase the age to whatever you want, give as much money as you want to the judges by way of salary, I don’t think that unless other issues are tackled, and this issue is the aura and dignity of the institution, the aura and dignity of the office, there won’t be too many takers. You may raise it to 70, you may raise it to 20 lakhs, it’s not going to work,” he said.
He said he would take up the issue of filling judicial vacancies on an urgent basis. “Filling up of vacancies is very important. I’m taking it up on priority… filling up the 5,000 vacancies we have in the subordinate judiciary. I’m trying to do it in about three to four months,” he said. “But filling up of vacancies is not going to solve the problem. It is a solution, it is not the whole solution. The solution lies in getting the right man, and the right man will come only if the office maintains its aura and dignity,” he said.