Justice GR Swaminathan of Madras High Court proposes to clear 445 appeals in 58 days

Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madras High Court has taken up the arduous task of disposing of all pending appeals filed in the year 2010 within the next 58 working days..The judge, who has been assigned the portfolio of hearing second appeals, requested for co-operation from lawyers to enable him to fulfil the task..After the Registry apprised him that there were 445 appeals pending from the year 2010, Justice Swaminathan proposed to dispose of all these appeals from February 7 to April 30, in a span of 58 working days.In a letter addressed to the Bar Associations of the High Court, Justice Swaminathan requested for full cooperation from the lawyers in order to clear the 445 appeals. "Time available is short and only if you co-operate, I can clear all 445 cases," the letter stated..Justice Swaminathan indicated in the letter that he will begin the exercise of hearing the appeals from February 14. In the meantime, he directed the lawyers appearing in the appeals from 2010 to start contacting their clients to find out if they were alive, and in the event that they were not, to get their legal representatives on record.He clarified that the appeals will be listed as per seniority in terms of filing, and no appeals from subsequent years will be listed."Do not embarrass me by making request for listing the second appeals of subsequent years...My eyes are set only on 2010 second appeals," he said in conclusion..Some of the guidelines for the procedure to be followed by the lawyers before and during the hearing are:No adjournments will be granted, no request for passover will be granted;Seniors need not bother much, juniors can get trained;Expect seniors to sent the written notes one entire day in advance containing list of dates and events, synopsis, case laws relied upon;No wasting of time by reading entire judgement.He also called for suggestions from lawyers, if any..Acknowledging that there had been a delay on his end in issuing order copies, Justice Swaminathan assured through his letter that order copies of the cases will be made available by the seventh day of dictation of the judgment. "I am acutely conscious that there has been a shortfall on my side. Though I dictated the judgments in open court, for obvious reasons, correction has been a source of discomfort. As a result, there has been delay in issuing order copies. This time, there will not be any occasion for you to complain," his letter stated..[Read the letter]