M.Gnanasekar v. The Registrar General,

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 01.03.2023 Coram THE HONOURABLE MR. T.RAJA, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE and THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE D.BHARATHA CHAKRAVARTHY M.Gnanasekar .. Petitioner Vs.

1.The Registrar General, High Court, Chennai - 600 104.

2.The Registrar (Judicial), High Court, Chennai - 600 104.

...Respondents

Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to list the cases mentioned in the representation of the petitioner dated 12.10.2022 for hearing before the appropriate Courts concerned. For Petitioner :

Mr.M.Gnanasekar Party-in-Person For Respondents :

Mr.Karthik Ranganathan ***** 1/8

O R D E R

[Made by the Hon'ble Acting Chief Justice] The petitioner, who is a practising Advocate, has filed this writ petition seeking issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents [Registrar General and Registrar (Judicial)] to list the following cases mentioned in his representation dated 12.10.2022 for hearing before the appropriate Courts concerned:

Sl.No. Date of Letter submitted by petitioner Case No.

1.

07.01.2021 W.P.No.4558/2021 2.

03.08.2021 W.P.No.2478/2021 3.

19.08.2021 W.P.No.17301/2021 4.

23.08.2021 W.P.No.2478/2021 5.

01.09.2021 W.P.No.2478/2021 6.

01.09.2021 W.P.No.14854/2021 7.

14.09.2021 W.P.No.17301/2021 8.

20.09.2021 W.P.No.8000/2021 9.

22.09.2021 W.P.No.5249/2021 10.

22.09.2021 W.P.No.7194/2021 11.

24.09.2021 W.P.No.673/2021 12.

30.09.2021 W.P.No.12905/2020 13.

30.09.2021 W.P.No.2958/2021 2/8

Sl.No. Date of Letter submitted by petitioner Case No.

14.

01.12.2021 W.P.No.25840/2017 15.

01.12.2021 W.P.No.21579/2015 16.

01.12.2021 W.P.No.25313/2015 17.

03.12.2021 W.P.No.7132/2019 18.

16.12.2021 W.P.No.9905/2020 1.

06.01.2022 W.P.No.33097/2022 2.

28.01.2022 W.P.No.2958/2020 3.

01.02.2022 Crl.R.C.No.825/2021 4.

01.02.2022 W.P.No.17301/2021 5.

01.02.2022 W.P.No.25840/2017 6.

01.02.2022 W.P.No.17950/2020 7.

01.02.2022 8.

03.02.2022 Complaint letter to Registrar (Judicial) for not listing of matter.

9.

03.02.2022 W.M.P.Sr.No.5331/21 10.

07.02.2022 W.P.No.11296/2020 11.

07.02.2022 W.P.No.8571/2020 12.

08.02.2022 W.P.No.25840/2017 13.

24.02.2022 W.P.No.25840/2017 14.

28.02.2022 W.P.No.11226/2020 15.

10.03.2022 W.P.No.673/2021 16.

15.03.2022 W.P.No.25517/2018 17.

16.03.2022 W.P.No.15362/2020 18.

21.03.2022 W.P.No.25840/2017 3/8

Sl.No. Date of Letter submitted by petitioner Case No.

19.

24.03.2022 W.P.No.2508/2019 20.

06.04.2022 W.P.No.30859/2019 21.

06.06.2022 W.P.No.17950/2020 & batch 22.

27.06.2022 W.P.No.31694/2017 23.

25.07.2022 W.P.No.15453/2019 24.

25.07.2022 W.P.No.30859/2019 25.

13.09.2022 W.P.No.25840/2017 26.

13.09.2022 W.P.No.2958/2020 27.

13.09.2022 W.P.No.17301/2021 28.

16.09.2022 W.P.No.23615/2019 29.

17.09.2022 W.P.No.13828/2020 30.

17.09.2022 W.P.No.11296/2020 31.

21.09.2022 W.P.No.673/2021 32.

27.09.2022 W.P.No.31694/2017 33.

27.09.2022 W.P.No.11840/2018 34.

28.09.2022 W.P.No.11226/2020 35.

29.09.2022 W.P.No.17301/2021

2. The petitioner, who appeared in person, submitted that he has been continuously receiving lot of complaints from his clients in respect of nonlisting of cases for hearing before the concerned Court. Some of the clients have taken back their brief and one of his clients went to the extent of 4/8

giving complaint before the Bar Council of India for not getting the cases listed for hearing.

3. The petitioner further submitted that whenever any mention is made, many of the Judges are insisting to approach the Registry by giving letters for listing and he has also given several letters for listing of cases before the concerned Court, but no response is forthcoming. Further, the system of giving hearing dates and maintaining A-Diary in all the Courts are not being followed and the cases are not listed at the given hearing dates. Therefore, the petitioner has moved the present writ petition.

4. The contention of the petitioner that the system of giving hearing dates and maintaining A-Diary in all the Courts are not being followed is untenable since whenever cases are adjourned, specific dates are given and on the specific dates, the cases are listed.

5. On a perusal of the letters given by the petitioner, we find that most of the cases mentioned in the letters pertain to the year 2021 and 2022 and only few cases are of the year 2015 and 2017. 5/8

6. The general practice that is being followed by this Court is : (a) whenever a mention is made for taking up the case, upon hearing the respective counsel and taking note of the urgency involved therein, this Court would direct the Registry to list the matter irrespective of the year of the case i.e. whether it is a old case or a fresh one. (b)If the petitioner concerned files a petition seeking to fix an early date for hearing, taking into account the urgency involved in the matter, this Court, without any hesitation, fixes an early date for expeditious disposal of the case.

7. It is not the case of the petitioner that despite the parties concerned filed a petition for fixing an early date, the same has not been considered by the Court.

8. Though the practice of mentioning cases before the Court is not permissible, we permit the petitioner to mention the matter before the concerned Court, if there is real urgency. It is for the concerned Court to entertain the mention made by the counsel. The petitioner is also at liberty 6/8

to file a petition seeking to fix an early date for hearing by clearly mentioning the year from which the case has been pending and the real urgency involved in the matter.

With the above observation, this Writ Petition is dismissed. No costs. [T.R., A.C.J] [D.B.C., J] 01.03.2023 Index: Yes/No Speaking Order/Non-speaking order gm 7/8

THE HON'BLE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE and D.BHARATHA CHAKRAVARTHY , J gm 01.03.2023 8/8