Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Friday urged lawyers to refrain from seeking adjournments in fresh cases, saying he does not want the Supreme Court to become a ‘tarikh-pe-tarikh’ court.

Speaking during the day’s proceedings, the CJI highlighted the concerning trend of lawyers filing adjournment slips, with a surprising 3,688 cases being adjourned in the last two months.

Expressing his concern, CJI Chandrachud, who presided over the bench alongside Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, urged the legal community to exercise restraint when seeking adjournments.

Also Read: Raghav Chadha to tender apology; SC asks Rajya Sabha chairman to consider sympathetically

“Unless it is very very necessary, please don’t file the adjournment slips…I don’t want this court to be a ‘tarikh-pe-tarikh’ court,” the CJI stated.

The term “tarikh-pe-tarikh,” which signifies repeated adjournments, gained prominence as a famous dialogue delivered by Bollywood actor Sunny Deol in the film “Damini,” where he rued the widespread culture of adjournments in the legal system.

CJI Chandrachud acknowledged the reduction in the time gap between filing fresh cases and their listing in the Supreme Court, attributing this achievement to the collaboration with lawyers’ associations.

Also Read: AAP MP Raghav Chadha suspended from Rajya Sabha over ‘breach of privilege’

However, he expressed disappointment over the practice of lawyers seeking adjournments once cases are listed, saying that it tarnishes the court’s image.

“I have been seeing that the period from filing to listing is reducing. We could not have achieved this without the support of the SCBA (Supreme Court Bar Association) and the SCAORA (Supreme Court Advocates-on Record Association),” the CJI said.

“For November 3, we have 178 adjournment slips. For each miscellaneous day, since October, 150 adjournment slips were there on each day and from September to October, 3,688 adjournment slips were circulated..,” the CJI said, adding, “This defeats the very purpose of expediting the case”.

(With inputs from PTI)