Supreme Court on adjournments: No more tarikh pe tarikh

NEW DELHI: More than 28 years after the “tarikh pe tarikh” dialogue in the film “Damini” encapsulated the common citizen’s views on the meandering case trial process, the 

Supreme Court

 on Thursday barred grant of repeated adjournments routinely and told trial court judges to risk becoming unpopular among advocates by refusing at the drop of a hat any request for deferment of hearings.

Frowning at the 10 adjournments granted by an 

MP court

 in an eviction suit to delay the process by four years, a bench of Justices M R Shah and A S Bopanna said, “The courts shall be very slow in granting adjournments... The time has now come to change the work culture and get out of the adjournment culture so that the confidence and trust put by the litigants in the justice delivery system is not shaken and the rule of law is maintained.”

SC: Repeated adjournments break the back of litigants

Writing the judgment, Justice Shah said many a time the tactic employed by unscrupulous litigants is to seek repeated adjournments and cause enormous delay to deny justice to the opposite party. “Repeated adjournments break the back of litigants. The courts are enjoined upon to perform their duties with the object of strengthening the confidence of the common man in the institution entrusted with the administration of justice.”

Any effort which weakens the system and shakes the faith of the common man in the justice dispensation has to be discouraged. Therefore, the courts shall not grant adjournments in a routine manner and mechanically and shall not be a party to cause for delay in dispensing justice. The courts have to be diligent and take timely action in order to usher in an efficient justice dispensation system and maintain faith in rule of law,” the bench said.

The SC was aware of the work culture in trial courts where a judge invites the displeasure of litigants and becomes unpopular among advocates if s/he takes a strict view and refuses adjournments sought routinely.

“The judicial officer shall not worry about that if his conscience is clear. The judicial officer has to bear in mind his duties to the litigants who are before the courts and who have come for justice and for whom courts are meant and make all efforts to provide timely justice to the litigants,” the SC said.

The SC said because of this untrammelled adjournment culture prevailing for years in the justice delivery system, the litigants' right to speedy trials has become elusive. “Arrears are mounting because of such delays, dilatory tactics, advocates asking for repeated adjournments and the courts mechanically and routinely granting it,” Justice Shah said.

It cannot be disputed that due to delay in access to justice and not getting timely justice may shake the trust and confidence of the litigants in the justice delivery system,” the SC warned.