On Tuesday, the Supreme Court questioned the rationale behind listing transfer petitions before its vacation benches [M/S Jayam Aircon v. Havells India Limited].
Currently, the Supreme Court is on its summer break, with only three vacation benches handling cases. Typically, only those requiring urgent orders or relief are listed before these benches.
A vacation bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Sanjay Karol expressed frustration when a transfer plea was brought before them. The plea involved a company seeking to transfer a case from Noida to Chennai.
Upon learning that this was the first time the transfer petition was coming up for hearing, Justice Narasimha remarked, “Transfer petitions are listed before a vacation court? I don’t understand what is the urgency here. There are so many other cases.”
On Tuesday, 18 transfer petitions were listed before the vacation bench led by Justice Narasimha. Similar concerns were raised when an ‘after-notice’ matter was presented.
When the petitioner’s advocate informed the bench that he had yet to file his vakalatnama, Justice Narasimha questioned why such matters were being listed before the vacation bench. “Absolute waste of time. Why are these matters coming up even before a Vacation Court? Absolute waste of time,” Justice Narasimha remarked, especially after learning that the petitioner had died and needed to substitute legal heirs.
