"Do You Know How Many Hours We Sleep?" Supreme Court Judge On Urgent Hearing Plea

In a sharp response to a lawyer's request for the urgent listing of a case, Supreme Court judge and next in line for Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, highlighted the heavy workload faced by the judiciary. 

"Unless someone is about to be hanged, I will never list a mentioned case on the same day," Justice Kant said, as he declined a plea for same-day hearing in a matter involving the auction of a residential house.

Justice Surya Kant, who is expected to assume office as the Chief Justice of India in November, made the remarks during the morning mentioning session.

Responding to a counsel who requested immediate listing of a matter, citing that his client's house was scheduled to be auctioned the same day, Justice Kant said, "You people don't understand the plight of judges... Do you know how many hours we are sleeping?" Emphasising the criteria for such urgency, he added, "Unless someone's liberty is at stake..."

The remarks come following a significant rule introduced in August this year, which bars senior advocates from mentioning cases not listed for the day.

Mentioning is a routine practice in the Supreme Court where every morning, lawyers mention cases that may need urgent listing or orders from court. This is done before regular hearing begins for the day.

On August 6, the CJI Bhushan Ramakrishna Gavai made it clear that from August 11 onwards, senior advocates would no longer be allowed to mention cases for urgent hearing in his court.