Adjournments and harsh courts
NOWADAYS we find the tendency where some courts are very harsh with prayer for adjournments. It is not that adjournments are always sought only to delay adjudication or for forum shopping. Many courts list 50 to 200 cases for hearing on a day and hardly 30 of them reach and all the advocates whose cases are listed for that day have to come and sit in the court for the whole day with their cases not reaching for hearing and without even knowing the next date of hearing. And if this advocate asks for an adjournment, some courts simply dismiss his suit. It is not as if the cause lists are published well in advance. In many courts the cause lists are uploaded on the website late in the night and it is impossible for an outstation advocate to reach the court in a few hours. Again it is not as if the Court has nothing to do if an advocate asks for an adjournment - there is always a long list of cases posted for that day. If it is found that any advocate is indulging in delay tactics or forum shopping, it can be made clear that in the next hearing, there would be no adjournment - but to treat every prayer of adjournment as a punishable crime is not fair.