SC irked over 'shoddy work' of registry officials, 'unruly' lawyers

The Supreme Court Monday expressed unhappiness over "unruly" behaviour of some lawyers and alleged shoddy work of registry officials in listing of urgent cases.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi rapped a registry official over deletion of a matter which was ordered to be listed for an urgent hearing by a bench he is heading.

"What is going on? She (lawyer) had made a mention last week and we had ordered the matter to not be deleted. What do you not understand when orders are passed? What is the staff up to?" the anguished bench, which also comprised Justice Deepak Gupta, asked.

The observation came when the woman lawyer mentioned her matter, alleging that despite specific direction that he case will not be deleted from the list of business, it was struck out from the list by the apex court registry.

The submission of the registry official that he would look into it further angered the CJI.

"We give you time and you come back after two hours with some cooked up story that this happened or that happened," the bench said.

The CJI, before rising for the day, got irked again while hearing a plea relating to allocation of lawyers' chambers in a new building of the supreme court when several advocates started advancing arguments simultaneously.

The CJI termed their behaviour "unruly" and recused himself from hearing the plea.

"Tomorrow somebody will say I should not have heard it. There is no point being good in this bad world," Justice Gogoi said, and ordered listing of the plea before a bench he is not a part of.