Supreme Court issues SOP on timelines for submission of oral arguments

The Supreme Court of India has come out with a Standard Operating Procedure for adhering to timelines for submission of oral arguments in all cases.

A circular issued today noted that in order to facilitate effective Court Management and equitable distribution of Court working hours and to ensure speedy and proper administration of justice, as directed by the Chief Justice of India and all the Judges, there shall be a Standard Operating Procedure for adhering to timelines for submission of oral arguments in all cases, with immediate effect:

1) Senior Advocates, Arguing counsel and/or Advocate-on-record, shall submit the timelines for making oral arguments in all post-notice and Regular Hearing matters, at least a day prior to the commencement of the hearing of the case. The same shall be submitted to the Hon’ble Court through the online portal for submitting Appearance Slips already provided to the Advocate-on record.

2) Arguing counsel and/or Senior Advocates, through their Advocate-on record or Nodal Counsel/s nominated by Hon’ble Court, if any, shall file a brief Note / written submission not exceeding five (5) pages, after serving its copy on the other side, at least three (3) days prior to the date of hearing, in order to ensure compliance of such timelime; and,

3) All counsel shall strictly adhere to the timelines fixed and conclude their oral arguments. 

Recently, Chief Justice of India had also clarified that requests for urgent listing must be made in writing through a mentioning slip and not by oral mentioning. This clarification came as a response to an urgent mention of a matter relating to the demolition of a canteen before the bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice AS Chandurkar.

Notably, the Supreme Court had recently in a judgment said that once Court has indicated its mind and requested the counsel to refrain from further submissions, the same is expected to be respected. "Orders are passed by the Court only after due consideration. The Court is always mindful of the submissions advanced and does not dismiss the matters without careful examination.", a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta had observed.

The bench had further cautioned that continued insistence, especially after the Court expressed its inclination, serves no purpose and affects the decorum of proceedings. "There needs to be a balance in the duty that advocate has towards his/her client and the Court. The orderly and dignified functioning of the Court is best ensured when the Bench and the Bar move in symphony with each other", it has further said.

Earlier in April 2025, the court had said it is imperative to set a time-limit for submissions in Arbitration related cases as Constitutional Courts are also vested with Appellate jurisdiction where they are bound to devote necessary time to cases involving grievances of a common man. Court had also pointed out, in several appeals arising out of Sections 34 and 37 proceedings, it has been noticed that there is a tendency on the part of the senior members of the Bar to argue as if these proceedings were regular appeals under Section 96 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.