"SC pulls up Registry for accepting affidavit from non-party, demands report on its functioning"

The Supreme Court has once again criticized its Registry for repeated mistakes in handling cases. This time, the Court was unhappy that the Registry accepted a counter-affidavit from someone who was not even part of the case. The Court pointed out that the Registry often accepts documents from unrelated individuals without proper checks and sometimes in an unreadable format. Despite previous orders to follow the Supreme Court Rules correctly when handling SLP registration, no real improvements have been made so far. “This Court has time and again observed that the concerned Section/Branch of the Registry is accepting the documents/reply/counter from the party, who would not be a party – respondent in the proceedings nor would he have filed any caveat. Many a times, the documents would be accepted, though absolutely illegible and not even type written.”, the court noted. “This Court has also time and again drawn the attention of the Registry with regard to the non-compliance of the Supreme Court Rules and other Rules of Procedures in respect of the registration of the SLPs by passing Judicial Orders, however there does not appear to be any follow-up exercise undertaken to rectify the lapses and discontinue the wrong practices followed by the Registry dehors the Supreme Court Rules.”, the court added. Based on the aforementioned observation, the Court directed the Registrar (Judicial) “to submit the report and apprise the Court on the next date as to whether any follow-up action is taken on the Judicial Orders passed by the Court on the working of the Registry, and if yes, what actions have been taken so far.” The matter is next listed on February 21, 2025. www.legalmeet.in