On Friday, Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud, while hearing a case remarked that there is a need to change the way lawyers work in the apex court.
Expressing displeasure over repeated requests for adjournments by lawyers, Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud on Friday said “we do not want the Supreme Court to become a Tarikh Pe Tarikh court”. ‘

A bench of Justice Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli got annoyed when a lawyer appearing in a civil appeal on behalf of a Hindu priest, sought time to argue a matter and said he has given a letter for adjournment.

We will not adjourn the hearing,” the bench said.

“At the most, we can postpone the hearing but you have to debate the matter. We do not want the Supreme Court to become a ‘Tarikh pe tarikh’ court. We want to change this perception,” justice Chandrachud said.

Reiterating a popular dialogue from the hindi movie ‘Damini’, Justice Chandrachud told the counsel appearing for a Hindu priest in the civil appeal, “This is the apex court and we want the prestige of this court to be maintained.”

The bench said that while the judges keep preparing till midnight while carefully reading the case file and preparing for the next day’s hearing, the lawyers come and seek an adjournment.

Justice Chandrachud further added, “Lawyers often complain that matters are not listed, but seek adjournment when their cases come up.”

“Each one of you must realise that court’s time is valuable. We invest our time in reading files and then advocates come and simply ask for adjournment. I fail to understand why you have to file a case when you don’t want to argue?”

The bench stayed the hearing and later, when the counsel appearing for the arguments appeared in the matter, the bench refused to interfere with the appeal and asked the priest to move the High Court.