On 14-05-2025, the Supreme Court Advocates-On-Record Association (‘SCAORA’) sent a letter to Justice B.R. Gavai, Chief Justice of India, seeking reinstatement of the letter circulation mechanism and requesting that the sequence of matters be mentioned in the supplementary list.
The SCAORA in its letter explained that the letter circulation mechanism allowed advocates to inform the Court of their unavailability due to personal or professional commitments. The mechanism was a valuable tool and the discontinuation of the same caused severe impediment to the members over the past several months. SCAORA stated that restoring the circulation of adjournment letters would enable advocates to promptly inform the Court when they are unable to appear, ensuring that cases are rescheduled in a timely manner, and reducing the risk of adjournments that could disrupt the Court’s schedule and also burden the litigants with financial hardships to engage Senior Advocates for their matters, which ultimately might get adjourned, on account of unavoidable circumstances.
Regarding the practice of publication of the sequence of matters, SCAORA stated that the current practice of sequencing was causing huge difficulties for the bar since the various Supreme Court benches had their respective sequence in which the matters are taken up from the cause list for the day and such a sequence is usually published on the display board between 10:15 and 10:30 AM daily. SCAORA requested that the said sequence be included/published in the Supplementary List or through a separate notice in the evening before the date of listing to enable members to effectively plan and manage the listing of cases in advance. SCAORA claimed that this would not only avoid last-minute clashes and confusion but would also allow the bar members to better assist the Courts in adjudicating the matters.
SCAORA further explained that since the sequence was mentioned in the morning of the listing, there was very little reaction time for all the stakeholders, and this practice was not only disrupting the effective management of court appearances but was also contributing to a strained utilization of the Courts’ time. The inability to attend hearings due to overlapping matters or the necessity to seek passes or adjournments was an unfortunate consequence, especially for those who may not be technologically adept.
Accordingly, SCAORA requested Justice Gavai to consider the aforesaid requests to alleviate the difficulties faced by the bar members and enable them to contribute to the efficient functioning of the Supreme Court.
