Adjournment

ADJOURNMENT. Friends you must have come across this word quite often, and this word is mostly used in legal cases, by mentioning that the said case is adjourned for a later date. In the ’90s there was one Bollywood movie named ‘Damini’ which had a classic dialogue that became very famous, which goes like this “ Court Mein Tareekh Pe Takeekh, Tareekh Pe Tareekh  Milti Hai Par Insaaf Nahin Milta”, which has become truth for our legal system. Here the cases drag on for years together, as the adjournment is available for any flimsy reasons for both the concerned parties.

What is a valid ground for adjournment?

The rule says that “ adjournments are to be granted only if the circumstances are beyond the control of the party who seeks one. The pleading advocate being sick can be the reason for adjournment but the pleader/advocate off the party is engaged in another court is not a ground for the adjournment”.

As per SC observation-Under, our present adversary legal system where the parties generally appear through their advocates, the obligations of the parties are to select the advocate, brief him about the case, pay the fees demanded by the advocate, and then trust the learned advocate to do rest of the things. The parties generally may have no legal knowledge of the court’s procedure. After engaging a lawyer/advocate, the party may remain supremely confident that the lawyer will look after his/her interest. Now, what is the fault of the party who has done everything in his/her power and expected him/her would suffer because of the fault of the advocate who has failed to appear on a given date and time in the court?

Now if the advocate does not appear for the case at the scheduled time, then the court can dismiss the case, for restoration of the case the party has to make an application to the court for the order of dismissal to be set aside, it can be shown that there is sufficient cause for lawyers absence.

In 2021, SC in their one judgment said that “ many a time the tactic employed by unscrupulous litigants to seek for repeated adjournments and cause enormous delay to deny justice to the opposite party. Repeated adjournments break the back of litigants. The courts are formed to perform their duties with the object of strengthening the confidence of the common man in the institution entrusted with the administration of justice”. It said further that “ any effort which weakens the system and shakes the faith of 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 the 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”. SC also observed the work culture of trial courts where a judge invites the displeasure of litigants and becomes unpopular among advocates if he/she takes a strict view and refuses adjournments sought routinely.

Yesterday, SC shed its usual practice of adopting a liberal approach, especially with regard to senior lawyers who are unable to appear on many occasions due to engagement in other cases. It made it clear that hearings would not be deferred as it asked a senior advocate not to embarrass the bench by asking for an adjournment. A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) turned down repeated pleas of a senior advocate who submitted that the matter be heard on Tuesday (27/9/22) as he was not prepared. But the court turned down his plea and asked him to argue the case. The hearing was concluded and order was passed.

Similarly, a junior counsel sought adjournment on the ground that the senior counsel was not available, but in this case, also CJI led bench insisted that he should argue the case. As the junior counsel pleaded for a short date, the bench said at the most it can grant a pass over, which means that the case would be taken up at the end of the board. ‘Short date can only be passed over and not another date’, the bench said. In this case, also, the court heard the matter at the end of the board and passed the order.

The above-mentioned two cases are giving the hint to all the advocates, junior or senior of SC, that the judges of SC have changed for the better, and are not going to give adjournments without any valid reason, their contention is that advocates are knowing about the dates of their cases, so they should come prepared on the given date, and not to ask for adjournments on any flimsy grounds.

I hope what SC has started filters down to HC, Session Court, and other lower courts. If this happens then the wheel of justice will start moving at a faster pace.

Waiting for your views on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

27^th September 2022