SC frowns upon litigant for challenging High Court’s adjournment order

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4

The Supreme Court on Tuesday frowned upon litigants challenging adjournment orders passed by high courts, saying the geographical proximity shouldn’t be the sole reason for approaching it.

The petitioners had challenged adjournment orders passed by the Delhi High Court, including the one passed in November 2021 posting the matter for hearing on January 28, 2022.

“Just because the Delhi High Court is a stone’s throw away, you can come to the Supreme Court against orders of adjournment?” a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud wondered.

Disapproving of the attempt to take an undue advantage of the geographical proximity of the Delhi High Court, the Bench asked, “What should happen in Maharashtra and Manipur?”

As the petitioners’ counsel said his clients were “very poor people”, the Bench shot back, “There are poor in other parts of the country also! An SLP against adjournment? We will not entertain this.”

This is the second such instance in as many months. On November 22, the Supreme Court had ordered a litigant to shell out Rs 20,000 for wasting its time by filing a Special Leave Petition against an adjournment order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“If this is not a misuse of the process of law, one can say little else. This Court is not a walk in place only because Chandigarh happens to be in the proximity to Delhi,” a Bench led by Sanjay Kishan Kaul had told petitioner Ramesh Chander Diwan.