Will not list a mentioned case on same day unless someone is to be hanged: Justice Surya Kant
Justice Kant heard the mentioning today as CJI Gavai was heading a constitution bench.
Justice Surya Kant today refused to list a case today after it was mentioned before him. "Unless someone is about to be hanged, I will never list a mentioned case on the same day", the supreme court judge said.
The judge went on to say that advocates do not understand the plight of judges. "Do you even know how many hours we have been working and how many hours of sleep we get? Unless someone's liberty is at stake, we will not list it the same day," Justice Kant added.
The mentioning was made today before Justice Kant's bench which also comprised` Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh. Normally, the mentioning for the day are made before the Chief Justice of India, but as he was sitting on a five-judge constitution bench, the second most senior judge heard the mentioning of cases.
The case mentioned before Justice Kant related to that of a house being auctioned today.
Notably, last month a rule was formulated by the CJI which bars senior advocates from mentioning cases. CJI BR Gavai had made it clear that from August 11 onwards, senior advocates would no longer be allowed to mention cases for urgent hearing in his court.
Last year, Justice Dipankar Datta of the Supreme Court had also remarked in court that judges were criticized despite their hard work.
"It is unfortunate that despite the hard work that we put in, Judges are criticized...", Justice Datta said after court was done dismissing former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren's plea against ED arrest. "We have vacations right now and still burning the midnight oil...", Justice Datta had added. Adding that the government agencies caused half of the delay in filing cases, Justice Datta said, "For a simple appeal in which 90 days' time is given, the authorities come late and then we are blamed, let those who castigate us, take this also into consideration..". Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, present in court, had come to the judiciary's defense by saying, "People don't realize that judges work in two shifts..".