JUSTICE DELIVERED: High Court remarks that it expects the advocates will not file such a petition seeking such prayers in future
Unhappy with the decision of the civil courts in Vadodara to conduct matters during the summer vacation declared by the Gujarat High Court administration from May 13 to June 9, three lawyers moved the high court challenging the decision of the lower court.
The petitioners — Avadhoot Sumant, Nayan Shah, and Bharat Pandya — are practising lawyers of Vadodara and sought the high court's direction to the principal district judge, Vadodara, to clarify and communicate to all civil courts in the city to observe the summer vacation and not to hear the cases scheduled for the hearing.
The lawyers contended before the court that post the summer vacation notification issued by the high court administration, they had accordingly arranged their personal programmes including naturopathy treatment. It was submitted by them that despite their repeated requests, the judges at Vadodara kept their civil matters for hearing during the vacation period, causing inconvenience to them.
The advocates also submitted that the civil courts at Vadodara have given oral instructions to the petitioners that no vacation is available in the civil courts and therefore, the matters are listed during vacation for effective hearing. It was argued that such an action amounts to dishonouring the summer vacation notification issued by the high court.
The advocates also submitted that they had already made a representation before the high court administration on April 29 against the fixing of their matters during vacation. Notably, after the representation was made, the registrar general of the high court replied to the same and clarified that the lawyers can seek an adjournment from the concerned court due to their non-availability on account of personal engagement during summer vacation.
Interestingly, when the case was taken up for hearing on Friday, the counsel for the high court administration and the principal district judge, Vadodara, submitted to the court a letter issued by the principal district judge on May 16. The letter provided that civil matters will be conducted only if there is a consent of litigants of both sides.
No need to entertain the pleas: HC
Following the response given by the high court registrar general to the advocates and assurance given by the principal district judge, Vadodara, the high court held that there was no need to entertain the prayer made by the advocates. The court also remarked: "It is expected that the advocates of the concerned courts shall not in future approach this court by filing such petitions seeking writ of mandamus in the nature of the prayers made in this petition."
Over 37K civil cases pending in Vadodara
As per the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDJ), there are over 37,000 civil cases pending in Vadodara courts, with over 950 civil cases being instituted every month. Around 30 per cent of these cases are less than one-year-old. If the criminal cases of the district are taken into consideration, the total pendency of cases in the district crosses 1.63 lakh. As far as the pendency at the state level is concerned, the figure touches 16.38 lakh cases.
Key argument by the advocates
The lawyers contended before the court that post the summer vacation notification issued by the high court administration, they had accordingly arranged their personal programmes including naturopathy treatment
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