Judicial Delays And Time Limit For Arguments – Supreme Court

In a recent case, Ajit Mohan & Ors. v. Legislative Assembly National Capital Territory & ors.¹  the Three Judge Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the Postscript  of the Judgment has made some intriguing and riveting observations while drawing a context between judicial delays, pendency of cases and restriction of time period for oral submissions by Counsels. The Hon'ble Bench in their 11- pointer Postscript have emphasized on how the proceedings will go on in the future i.e. post COVID period, which is likely to see a surge in the number of cases pending adjudication.

It would be relevant to mention here that the Bench in the case was hearing a petition wherein social media intermediary, Facebook had been alleged of fuelling violence between in February, 2020 with communal riots in different parts of North-East Delhi. The hearing in the case went on for 26 long hours.