Registry Misplaced Urgent File? I Will Have To See Who Is To Blame: CJI Surya Kant Orders Immediate Complaint

The issue was raised before a Bench headed by the CJI when Advocate Shubhi Shivani Jaideep informed the Court that an urgent matter filed on June 8 had still not been listed because the case file was allegedly misplaced at the Registry's end.

“SLP was filed on 8th June, however it has not been registered by the Registry till date. We have written a representation to the Registrar. The case file appears to have been misplaced at the end of the Registry and because of this it has not been listed before the Court,” the counsel submitted.

Seeking urgent intervention, the counsel requested the Court to direct the Registry to trace the file, re-register the matter and list it urgently.

Expressing concern over the allegation, Chief Justice Surya Kant observed that the matter warranted a deeper inquiry if the Registry had indeed misplaced an urgent case file.

“If our Registry is misplacing urgent files, do you think I will leave it at that? I will have to see who is to blame,” the CJI remarked.

The Chief Justice further said: “It is a very serious matter if the Registry has misplaced the file. If our Registry is misplacing files in urgent matters, then do you think I will only spare the matter by directing listing? I must do something more. Please give me the details. I would like to look into this inefficiency, what is the reason behind it.”

The counsel informed the Bench that despite submitting representations to the Registry, including one made the previous day, no response had been received.

Taking immediate cognisance of the complaint, the CJI directed the Advocate-on-Record representing the petitioner to submit a written complaint without delay.

“Ask your AOR to give the complaint to me, either in my chamber now or at my residence. But give it today itself. I will take it up,” the Chief Justice said.

The CJI indicated that he would personally examine the complaint and ascertain the circumstances in which the case file was allegedly misplaced.

Justice Surya Kant has on earlier occasions also expressed dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Supreme Court Registry. In May this year, the Chief Justice had described the Registry as “nasty,” observing that several officers behaved like “Super Chief Justices,” after noting that an order directing issuance of notice to a respondent had not been complied with.

In another instance in February 2026, the CJI had remarked that the functioning of the Registry required a “deeper probe” after noticing that similar matters had been listed before different Benches.

Notably, in 2025, the Supreme Court had said that its registry has no authority to delete a case which is already listed, unless there is a specific direction by the Chief Justice of India or the bench concerned, as the cause list is of the court and not of the registry and there is a sanctity to it. Even if a case is listed by mistake, the registry must seek permission of the concerned judges for deletion of a case, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan had said.

Bench: CJI Surya Kant and Justice V. Mohana

Mentioning Date: June 17, 2026