Supreme Court Deprecates Advocates Raising Unnecessary Objections To Questions In Cross-Examinations, Urges Bar To Cooperate With Trial Courts

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.

“If we peruse the data available on the National Judicial Data Grid, we find that there is a huge pendency of suits in the Trial Courts in the State of Maharashtra. If the members of the Bar do not cooperate with the Trial Courts, it will be very difficult for our Courts to deal with the huge arrears. While a trial is being conducted, the members of the Bar are expected to act as officers of the Court. They are expected to conduct themselves in a reasonable and fair manner. The members of the Bar must remember that fairness is a hallmark of great advocacy.” the Court said.

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

Click here to read/download judgment