Big change in the Supreme Court in the new year, lawyers will have to argue within the stipulated time limit…

New Delhi: There is going to be a big change in the Supreme Court in the new year. Supreme Court lawyers will now present their oral arguments within the stipulated time limit. This new rule has been implemented with the aim of speedy justice and effective court management. For the first time, the Supreme Court has imposed a time limit for the oral arguments of lawyers, so that the uncertainty of time can be eliminated and cases can be disposed of quickly.

According to the Supreme Court circular, this deadline and SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) has come into effect with immediate effect. The Supreme Court has issued it to ensure effective court management, equitable distribution of working hours of the court and speedy process of justice.

Let us tell you that now the lawyers will file the timeline of oral arguments a day before the hearing. Each lawyer will have to present his arguments within the time limit set by the court. Lawyers will file oral arguments on the online portal of the court. Additionally, lawyers must file written arguments at least three days in advance, and these cannot exceed five pages. Written arguments will also have to be submitted to the other side.

At the same time, there are currently 92,010 cases pending in the Supreme Court, which include 72,658 civil and 19,352 criminal cases. At present, 219 cases are being heard in the court by a bench of three judges, while 27 cases are being heard by a bench of five judges.

Let us tell you that the longest oral debate case so far was the ‘Keshavanand Bharti’ case, the hearing of which lasted for 68 days. After this comes the case of Ram Janmabhoomi, the hearing of which lasted for 40 days. However, after the implementation of the new rules, the time limit in such cases will be strictly adhered to, making the record of long debates less likely to be broken.

It has also been said in the Supreme Court circular that this year the rate of disposal of cases in the Supreme Court has been 87 percent. As soon as CJI Surya Kant assumed office, he made it clear that speedy disposal of pending cases is his priority.

The new time limit rules will help in quicker disposal, and will speed up the pace of existing Supreme Court cases, thereby leading to faster disposal of pending cases.