Above: CJI Dipak Misra (file photo)/Photo courtesy: symlaw.ac

The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 4) relaxed the rule on listing the cases. Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra has now also allowed junior lawyers, apart from Advocates on Record (AoRs) to mention and seek urgent hearing.

In September 2017, the CJI had ruled that only AoRs will have the privilege to “mention” cases for out-of-turn listing and hearing. This was after a junior lawyer took objection to the age-old practice of senior lawyers getting precedence over their junior counterparts in mentioning petitions before the CJI for urgent hearing as they do not have to stand in queue. He pleaded before the CJI that he could not mention his petition despite standing in the queue for half an hour. He also pointed out that senior advocates are able to mention more than one petitions due to the advantage they get.

Thereafter the Court also witnessed an unpleasant scenario over the issue.

—India Legal Bureau