Madras High Court judge seeks cooperation of lawyers

Source: newindianexpress.com

CHENNAI: A Madras High Court judge GR Swaminathan has sought cooperation of advocates in speedy disposal of cases.

In a letter addressed to Bar on June 27, he urged advocates to not take more than one adjournment and asked them to prepare proper synopsis with dates and events and relevant citations to be passed on to the court officer a day in advance.

“How can you assist me more is a question that I want you to pose to yourself. Once my roster is announced, you can immediately be ready by contacting your clients. You need not wait for the case to be listed and then tell me in the court that you want adjournment. You have to get ready with instructions from your clients.

“I believe I can write a good judgment only if your advocacy is good. Bad advocacy will breed only bad judgment. I am critically dependent on you.” The two-page letter also speaks about disposal of cases.
The judge has apologised by expressing his inability to pass judgements in 75 cases that have been reserved.

“Many of my orders have been too cryptic. I request the Bar to appreciate that since pendency is heavy, I was more bent on disposals and I could not afford to write long orders. But then, the essential facts ought to have been stated. There is no excuse for skipping them over. Since I find it very difficult to correct the draft orders, there has been undue delay in dispatching the order copies. I hope to evolve a mechanism to overcome the shortcomings,” he said.