“We are fed up of transfer petitions, try video conferencing before coming here”, Arun Mishra J

Court Room 10 of the Supreme Court witnessed an interesting turn of events today as a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy reprimanded an advocate who expressed his objection at the dismissal of a transfer petition when a pass over was sought in the matter..The incident saw the intervention of SCBA President RS Suri and Secretary Gaurav Bhatia, with the Bench asking the Bar to express restraint while filing transfer petitions..The events were set in motion after the Bench dismissed a transfer petition when a pass over was sought by a junior lawyer..The Bench was relying on an earlier order passed by the Supreme Court which urges use of video conferencing before filing transfer petitions in matrimonial cases..The lawyer who was to appear in the matter, PV Dinesh, later came to court for another case of his. The said case was also a transfer petition which the court proceeded to dismiss. Dinesh then requested the Bench to hear him out on the earlier case which the Court had dismissed when his junior had sought a pass over. Interestingly, this transfer petition was filed by the husband seeking transfer of the case to the place where the wife was working..The bench refused to hear Dinesh despite his requests and Justice Arun Mishra remarked that he was interfering with the court’s work..Dinesh then expressed his objection to the court dismissing transfer petitions without hearing the counsel. At this juncture, the Bench rebuked the lawyer and warned him of contempt action..The news soon reached the SCBA office bearers, since both President Suri and Secretary Bhatia made themselves present in court to make a mentioning..When the Board was over and the Court began to rise, Suri sought the indulgence of the Bench and asked Justice Mishra not to initiate any contempt against the lawyer..Justice Mishra made it clear that the Bench is not resorting to any contempt action..“We are not doing anything of that sort. We just told him we will take contempt action if he interrupts other cases”..Suri then proceeded to request the Bench to be a bit more considerate when dealing with transfer petitions especially when pass over is sought..The Bench responded by saying that there is an order of the Court to resort to video conferencing instead of filing transfer petitions. Besides, the Court said that juniors should also be given an opportunity to argue cases like transfer petitions. Justice Mishra remarked,.“If juniors cannot argue, then what is the point? They should be given liberty to argue.”.Dinesh, whom the court had warned of contempt, interjected by saying that lawyers are under great pressure from clients..The Bench said,.“With great respect, you are not using proper tone. You cannot tell this court that ‘this is not the way to pass order’.”.The Court, however, allowed him to present his case again before dismissing it. It also expressed displeasure about filing of transfer petitions despite clear order by the court to resort to video conferencing..“We have devised a method of video conferencing. It is a very good method. At least try it before coming here…You should tell your clients to resort to video conferencing..Everyday, at least 30 to 40 transfer petitions are listed before us. We are fed up of hearing transfer petitions. You should stop filing these petitions. At least try video conferencing before coming here”, said Justice Mishra before rising for lunch..Interestingly, the issue of transfer petitions being dismissed by the Bench presided by Justice Arun Mishra was raised by the Supreme Court Bar Association a few days ago. According to a note by SCBA President RS Suri, the SCBA had, in a meeting with the Chief Justice of India, JS Khehar,.“mentioned that in transfer petition matters, Hon’ble Bench presiding by Hon’ble Justice Arun Mishra was passing routine mechanical order for video conferencing and dismissing the matter without looking at the merits of the case.” .The Chief Justice had suggested that he will post one transfer petition before the Bench of Justice AK Goel and UU Lalit, the Bench which had passed the original order directing use of video conferencing, so that the same Bench could consider giving some further instructions.