LI Network
Published on: December 08, 2023 at 16:10 IST
Prashant Bhushan, the Senior advocate, has lodged a formal complaint with the Supreme Court Registry, alleging irregularities in the arbitrary listing of a batch of matters related to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) before a bench headed by Justice Bela Trivedi.
The cases involve challenges to the application of the UAPA against journalists and lawyers concerning their fact-finding report on the Tripura riots.
In his letter addressed to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, Bhushan argued that the cases should have been listed before a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, not Justice Trivedi’s bench. He urged the registry to rectify what he termed the “arbitrary” listing of the matter.
During a previous hearing on November 29, Bhushan had orally requested that the cases be assigned to the appropriate bench, considering that similar petitions were already being heard by a bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud. Bhushan specifically requested Justice Trivedi to refer the matter to the Chief Justice on the administrative side for clarity.
Bhushan highlighted that the irregularities in listing violated the Handbook on Practice & Procedure and Office Procedure on the judicial side, based on the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. He pointed out that according to the rules, pending matters are to be listed before the senior presiding judge and only before the puisne judge if the senior presiding judge is unavailable.
In response to these concerns, Bhushan’s letter requested the Registry to issue appropriate orders after consulting with the Chief Justice to rectify the listing error before the next hearing on January 10, 2024.
This complaint follows a recent open letter from Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave to CJI DY Chandrachud, expressing similar concerns about irregularities in the listing of ‘sensitive’ matters, particularly those with political implications.
