Don’t allow lawyers to waste time: HC

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has advised judges to hear cases patiently and talk politely to the litigants. It has also asked the judges to censure lawyers who argue unnecessarily and waste the court’s time.

While hearing a case from Mehsana in which a litigant expressed dissatisfaction over a judge’s conduct and wanted transfer of the case, Justice MR Shah in the high court ruled, “It is true that whenever a litigant comes to the court, he/she should be given a fair opportunity and sufficient time to submit the case on merits and the litigant or his advocate should not feel that the court is in hurry and/or haste to dispose of the matter.”

The high court advised the judicial officers in lower judiciary and told them to know when to stop lawyers. “Only in an appropriate case, where a lawyer is unnecessarily wasting time either by repetition and/or making submissions contrary to the record and/or unnecessary wasting the time only to delay the proceedings, it is open for the presiding judge to stop the advocate,” Justice Shah observed.

Pradip Raval, who moved the HC with a demand to shift his case from the 2nd additional sessions judge, complained that the judge always seems to be in a hurry to complete the proceeding. Raval’s counsel JT Trivedi informed the court that impatient behaviour on part of the judge creates doubts in the mind of the litigant about whether or not he would get justice.

The HC refused to transfer Raval’s case, but Justice Shah made it clear that a litigant should not feel that the presiding Judge has not given sufficient time. “The conduct of the presiding judge should not make the litigant feel that the court is in hurry to dispose of the matter. Even the language of the presiding judge should be sober and should not annoy the litigant or the advocate,” the judge noted in his order.