Don't want Supreme Court to become 'taarikh-pe-taarikh' court: CJI Chandrachud

New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, on Friday, asked the lawyers to seek deferment of hearing only when it is really very necessary, saying, "We don't want this court to be a Taarikh-pe-Taarikh court".

“Tarikh-pe-Tarikh” (repeated adjournments) is a famous dialogue of actor Sunny Deol in Hindi film “Damini” where the actor rues the adjournment culture in courts.

He said frequent adjournments defeated the trust of citizens reposed in the top court of the country.

Presiding over a bench, the CJI said as many as 3688 adjournment slips were circulated by the lawyers over the last two months between September and October 2023.

In his remarks, the CJI said, "I have one request. There are 178 adjournment slips today. On an average per miscellaneous day from September 1 – 3, a total of 154 adjournments were circulated. A total of 3688 adjournments were circulated in two months."

“This defeats the purpose of filing and listing. On the contrary, 2361 matters have been mentioned since September 2023, 59 matters are being mentioned on an average every day,” he said.

On the one hand, matters are listed on an expedited basis and on the other hand, they are mentioned, they then get listed and then they are adjourned, he added.

"I request the members of the bar to not seek adjournments unless really really necessary. This cannot become a Tareekh-pe-Tareekh court. This defeats trust of citizens in our court," the CJI added.

He also highlighted that the Supreme Court had taken efforts to fix hearings of fresh matters within days of filing.