Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave has written an open letter to Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, expressing his distress over certain occurrences related to the listing of cases by the Registry of the Supreme Court.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave wrote in the letter that some of the cases being re-listed by the registry relate to “sensitive matters” involving human rights, freedom of speech, democracy and the functioning of statutory and constitutional institutions.
In the communication, senior advocate Dushyant Dave points out that many cases were transferred from previous benches which had initially handled them. Despite the presence of the senior judge, these cases were reassigned to other benches, believing that this practice is in violation of Supreme Court rules.
“I have personally seen many cases which were listed before different Hon’ble Benches when first listed and/or in which notices were issued, were removed from those Hon’ble Benches and listed before other Hon’ble Benches. Notwithstanding this, as the first quorum is available, the cases are being listed before the Hon’ble Benches in which the second quorum presides. The cases listed before Court Nos. 2, 4, 6, 7 are being listed before other Hon’ble Benches in addition to other cases. The letter said, “In blatant disregard of the justices on the bench, the practice referred to above and the Handbook on Office Procedure, and established practices and conventions. Interestingly, in doing so the seniority of the first quorum is also being ignored.”
In his capacity as Master of the Roster on the administrative side, senior advocate Dushyant Dave urged the CJI to immediately look into the situation and rectify it.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave refers to the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and the Handbook on Practice and Procedure of the Court and Office Procedure on the Judicial Side published by the Supreme Court of India in 2017 to underline the power of the Master of Roster. In the formation of rosters, formation of benches and allocation of cases.
“Upon your appointment, strong hopes were created in the minds of the citizens that under your leadership, the Supreme Court of India will reach greater heights, the march towards which had stopped for some time earlier. The wounds which have been created by such irregularities Senior advocate Dushyant Dave said in the letter, “In the last few years, the matters of justice delivery have not yet been corrected.”
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave revealed that he was forced to write the open letter as efforts to meet the Chief Justice in person to address the grievance were unsuccessful.
Despite a senior advocate seeking the appointment months ago on behalf of several advocates, he has been unable to meet the CJI to discuss the issue, the letter stated.
Senior lawyer Dushyant Dave says that he had met the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to express this concern.
According to the letter, the Advocate on Record (AOR) had also sent an email to the Registrar regarding the matter, but no response has been received.
Last week, the advocate-on-record of the Tamil Nadu vigilance director had, in a letter to the Supreme Court registry, objected to the transfer of the case to another bench.
Additionally, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul objected to the last-minute removal of the matter of appointment of judges from his bench.
