Justice G.S.
Justice G.S. Patel of the Bombay high court while hearing a notice of motion recently came down heavily on senior counsels who seek dates for appearing as per their convenience and hence seek fixed dates. Justice Patel said if senior counsels have accepted briefs in a listed matter then they should remain present in court or return the brief. He said that dates would no more be allotted as per the convenience of the senior counsels.
While hearing an administration suit on August 30, Justice Patel was requested by a junior counsel representing the plaintiff to grant a fixed date as senior counsel was to appear in the matter. The plea by the junior counsel however did not go down well with the bench.
“On behalf of the plaintiff, a submission is made that a certain senior advocate appears and, therefore, I should give a fixed date for this matter. I refuse to do anything of the kind. This practice of seeking fixed dates at the convenience of senior advocates will now stop. If they have accepted a brief in a matter listed on the ad-interim board, they will remain present or they will return that brief. We will not fix our dockets on the basis of their diaries. They will adjust their diaries to our dockets. Being designated a senior counsel has more responsibilities than privileges,” observed Justice Patel.
According to a senior advocate, the practice of asking juniors to plead for fixed dates was aimed at giving them a feel of court proceedings. “The junior counsels act as help for the seniors and in most cases as the senior counsel may not have the time to study the matter, hence time is sought,” said the senior counsel. He agreed that the juniors needed to be provided more opportunities to play a more pro-active role in the proceedings to learn faster.
Justice Patel directed the matter to be listed first on the supplementary board the next day, which was attended by the senior counsel.
