Breaking: Only AoRs will be allowed to mention matters, CJI Dipak Misra

After yesterday’s ‘mentioning debacle’, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra today stated in open court that only Advocates-on-Record will be allowed to mention matters..When the mentioning began today, Justice Misra stopped a Senior Advocate from mentioning, stating,.“Only AoRs will be allowed to mention.”.Yesterday, advocate PV Dinesh had raised objection to Senior Counsel mentioning out of turn while juniors and other lawyers had to wait in line without luck for half an hour after the CJI cut short the mentioning..Mentioning matters in the Supreme Court – especially commercial matters – to get them listed for early hearing is a practice that is frowned upon..It is a known fact that mentioning is used by any number of Senior Advocates to secure early hearing for cases which they project as “urgent”. This often leads to unpleasant allegations against the Bench. While certain CJIs had strictly enforced the bar on Senior Advocates mentioning matters, some of them have been lax in implementing the same. CJI Dipak Misra, it appears, belongs to the former category..The practice of unlisted mentioning reached its height during the days of Justice Altamas Kabir, and was slowly reined in by the subsequent Chief Justices, notably Justice RM Lodha. .With Justice HL Dattu’s reluctance to entertain mentioning matters, oral mentioning had reduced considerably until Justice Thakur took over.