Supreme Court Proposes To Amend Its 2013 Rules, Invites Suggestions

Proposing to carry out amendments in the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, the Supreme Court has issued a circular inviting suggestions/views from stakeholders in the justice delivery system. 

The circular, which was uploaded on the Supreme Court website today, states,

"the Supreme Court Rules Amendment Committee is in the process of considering certain amendments to the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. In order to make the exercise an exhaustive one and finetune the existing Practice & Procedure, all stakeholders in the justice delivery system are requested to submit their suggestions/views in this regard, i.e., either having a bearing on the said Rules and/or the Handbook on Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure, 2017."

The suggestions can be sent to the Supreme Court Rules Amendment Committee by e-mail only at official e-mail reg.admnmaterial@sci.nic.in on or before May 1, 2025. No hard copy thereof shall be entertained.

It is worthwhile to mention that the Supreme Court recently delivered a crucial judgment with regard to recording of advocates' appearances in order sheets, observing that the same should be strictly as per the Supreme Court Rules, 2013.

A bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and SC Sharma stated that appearances of only Senior Advocate/Advocate-on-Record/Advocate, who are physically present and arguing in the Court at the time of hearing of the matter and one Advocate/Advocate-on-Record each for assistance in Court to such arguing Sr Advocate/Advocate-on-Record/Advocate, as the case may be, will be recorded in the record of proceedings. It was noted that the Appearance Slip as per Form 30 prescribed by the SC Rules only allowed the recording of these appearances.

Following this judgment, Justice BR Gavai, while expressing serious displeasure with CBI for turning up unprepared on a date when the appeals against acquittal of Nithari Kand-accused Surendra Koli were listed for final hearing, commented that if appearances are given only for name-sake, the bench led by him might have to consider adopting the practice adopted by Justice Bela Trivedi-led bench.