Supreme Court criticizes its registry for failure to list cases despite judicial orders

The Supreme Court recently took strong exception to the court registry's failure to list cases despite judicial orders [Saddam Hussain MK & Ors. v Union of India]..When specific cases are assigned to be heard by a particular bench of the Court by way of judicial orders, the registry cannot refuse to list those cases solely due to the litigant's failure to comply with procedural requirements, a Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said."When there is an order of the Court directing listing of the cases specifically assigned to that Bench, the Registry cannot defy the order and refuse to list the cases on the ground that there was non-compliance with procedural aspects," the Court said in its order dated December 20..The top court was dealing with a case in which six pleas relating to Hashimpura massacre were not listed by the Court's registry, despite the Court's directions. The Court's registry refused to list these cases on the ground that the petitioner's counsel failed to provide proof of having served copies of the pleas to the caveators. In doing so, the registry relied upon Rule 2 of Order XV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 which requires the petitioner to serve the notice of the caveat along with a copy of the plea to the caveator.However, the Court found no provision in the 2013 Rules that prohibits a case from being listed before it due to non-compliance with procedural requirements, especially when the Court has expressly directed its listing."There may be cases of extreme urgency. In such cases, the Registry cannot rely upon Rule 2 of Order XV and refuse to list the case", it added. .The Court explained that as per Section 148A (right to lodge a caveat) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), when a litigant (petitioner) files an application seeking interim relief, the Court is under an obligation to issue a notice of such an application to the caveator on noticing that there is a caveat filed in the case. However, in appeal or in Special Leave Petition, a caveator does not have right to be heard on the issue of grant of leave or admission of the appeal, the Court said.Thus, the right of a caveator is with respect to prayer for interim relief, the Court said."Therefore, when there is a direction of the Court to list SLPs/appeals notwithstanding non-compliance with Rule 2 of Chapter XV of the Rules, registry can always list the case before the Court with an office report highlighting the failure of the petitioner/appellant to comply with requirements of Rule 2 of Order XV of the Rules," the Court made it clear.Although, the Court did not call for any action on the officials of its registry for their defiant action, it hoped that such incidents are not repeated.It then proceeded to direct the registry to list all such pending matters on January 17, 2025. .Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) SV Raju appeared for National Investigation Agency. Senior Advocates Aditya Sondhi, Raghenth Basant and K Parameshwar appeared for the accused..[Read Order]