New Delhi: Ever since Justice Dipak Misra has taken over as Chief Justice of India with a seat in court room number one, it has witnessed lawyers cramming it to either attend to their matters or make oral mentions to get dates.
Sitting as the puigne judge, Justice Misra was adjudicating a bunch of cases relating to medical colleges and admission of students, and all these cases moved with him when he became CJI in August last week.
Thanks to medical admission cases, the list of cases in court room number one goes beyond 70-80 cases on miscellaneous days (Monday and Friday) and on one such day, there were 115 cases before it.
Tuesday was no different. Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Rajeev Dhawan, Meenakshi Arora, Anand Grover, Maninder Singh and a couple of other designated Seniors queued up sharp at 10.30 am to make oral mentions of their cases and get suitable dates for hearing. Only the CJI can pass orders for fixing a date for hearing.
The next 15 minutes, the senior advocates kept mentioning their cases -- some of them mentioned for multiple cases -- and CJI Misra issuing instructions for the registry as to when to fix these matters for hearing.
Known for his patience, Justice Misra, however, lost his cool when some junior lawyers, in their anxiety, started arguing simultaneously.
"Enough is enough. I am not going to hear mentioning matters any more. All these cases, if there are no objections, will come up for hearing on October 3," he said.
But one lawyer from the bunch still came forward. Advocate PV Dinesh submitted he had something to say.
"I have something to say my Lord. It is not just about my case. Please give me an audience," said Dinesh.
The lawyer went on to add: "We, junior lawyers, have been waiting for 20 minutes to mention our cases but when our turn came, my lord is refusing to hear us. All Senior Advocates were mentioning earlier and we have not got any opportunity. Will litigants who can't afford senior lawyers not get a chance?" asked Dinesh.
The CJI replied that Dinesh perhaps did not hear him well when he said that all cases will come up on October 3. "We can't spend whole day in mentioning. This court has to also hear other cases...and we don't need to learn from anyone what we should do," said the CJI.
But Dinesh retorted: "My lord is right. Other cases are also to be heard. What I want to bring to your attention is that if Senior Advocates can mention multiple cases, won't others not get a chance to mention even one case? In my case, I have peculiar circumstances and I would request for an opportunity to mention since October 3 may not suit my client."
At this, Justice Misra gave Dinesh an audience and passed suitable orders.
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