New Delhi, November 26: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday said a liberal system of adjournments in the Supreme Court will be counterproductive to the speedy disposal of cases as he defended the new rules introduced in February that have brought down the adjournment rate.
Addressing the Constitution Day celebration being organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association, CJI Sanjiv Khanna said "...I have one request to make and I hope it will be taken in the right spirit. I have been repeatedly getting requests for recirculation of letters of adjournment… it is not going to be possible for us to go back to the earlier system. It will be counterproductive’ he told a gathering of judges and lawyers on the occasion of the constitution day.
CJI Khanna pointed out “Under the earlier system, there were about 9,000 to 10,000 letters of adjournments every three months. That was more than 1,000 letters per day. In the present system, we have received 1,400 odd applications for adjournment in the past 11 months. This comes to around 150 applications in a month. That is a huge change.”
CJI Khanna’s predecessor DY Chandrachud introduced the new adjournment policy to curb the “adjournment culture” blamed among the reasons for the pendency of cases currently at over 80,000.
CJI Khanna also emphasized the transformative journey of India since independence, noting the significant role of the Constitution in shaping a mature and vibrant democracy. He highlighted that Constitution Day, also known as Law Day, celebrates this progress.
