15 Sep 2023 4:41 AM GMT
The Supreme Court on Thursday (14.09.2023) expressed concern about the huge pendency of suits in Trial Courts in Maharashtra and urged the members of the Bar to cooperate. The Court disapproved of advocates raising unnecessary objections during cross-examinations as they would result in trials getting detayed.
“If the advocates start objecting to every question asked in the cross-examination, the trial cannot go on smoothly. The trial gets delayed", the Apex Court said.
A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Rajesh Bindal said that if the members of the Bar do not cooperate at the trial stage, the huge pendency of cases will affect the functioning of courts.
In the specific case at hand, the Apex Court was considering an appeal against a stay granted by the High Court of Bombay in a suit for copyright infringement.
“We cannot refrain from recording certain disturbing features about the conduct of a member of the Bar while the trial was being conducted in this case.” the Apex Court said, while pointing out that due to the persistent objections of the counsel, the Court had to record a major part of the cross examination in question and answer format, which took up a lot of time of the trial court.
Case Title: Brihan Karan Sugar Syndicate Private Limited V. Yashwantrao Mohite Krushna Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2768 OF 2023
Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 784; 2023 INSC 831