"We are not the US Supreme Court:" Supreme Court of India adjourns matter

A Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde on Tuesday cautioned a law student against addressing the judges on the Bench as "Your Honour."

. " We are not the US Supreme Court. Do not address us this way, " CJI Bobde remarked upon the law student's faux pas.

. " Apologies. I will address as 'My Lord '", the law student replied.

. " Whatever, but no incorrect terms," CJI Bobde added.

. The matter concerned the appointment of judges to the subordinate judiciary.

. " You have not done your homework. You have missed Malik Mazhar Sultan case, " Justice V Ramasubramanian chimed in on the merits of the matter before adjourning it for four weeks.

. The petition before Supreme Court highlights the question of long-standing cases before subordinate courts in India, requesting, inter alia, formal rules and the code of procedure for the selection of judges within a time-limited span of time.

. The petition was filed by Shrikant Prasad , a final-year law student, alleging that the delay in the administration of justice causes both victims and accused to be mentally harassed and amounts to the deprivation of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

. The petitioner pointed out that in Indian District Courts, about 3.5 crore cases are pending, out of which about 2.5 crore cases are criminal in nature. In addition, some 56,000 lawsuits have been pending for more than thirty years.

“ The issue of judicial backlog and delay is widely acknowledged and extensively written about, but it seems to be nowhere close to being resolved. Today, a litigant can be stuck in court corridors for decades…the original litigant may not even be alive by the time the court resolves the issue. It is a stretch to describe any verdict given after decades as ‘justice’, ”states the plea .

. The petition claims that the primary reason behind such delays in justice is due to lack of Judges & corresponding Staff in subordinate Courts. The Petitioner submitted that there are only 20 judges per 10 lakh people in the country, as compared to 17 in 2014 by relying on a 2019 report published by the Union Law Ministry.

. This results in so many cases being listed on each day before a judge, and it becomes difficult to hear too many cases meaningfully, thereby eventually leading to numerous adjournments, the plea stated.

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"We are not the US Supreme Court:" Supreme Court of India adjourns matter

Debayan Roy

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