Bombay High Court Informs That Order Was Uploaded; Supreme Court Expresses Disappointment At Counsel's Misleading Statement

The Supreme Court recently expressed its disappointment over a counsel misleading the court by submitting that the Bombay High Court had not uploaded an order. Based on the submission of the counsel, the Supreme Court had earlier called for a status report from the Registrar General of the High Court. The Court was informed by the Registrar that the order had already been uploaded on 22nd August, while the counsel wrongly apprised the Apex Court on 25th August, that the order was yet to be uploaded. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah expressing its disappointment at the incorrect statement of the counsel, said: “…we are pained at the fact that the learned counsel for the petitioner(s) has given a wrong statement requiring us to pass orders for calling for status report of the Registrar General of the High Court of Bombay and also making observations uncalled for the practice of not uploading the reasoned orders in time.” The Court on the submission of the Counsel on 25th August, had criticised the Bombay High Court for the inordinate delay in uploading the order:In the matter at hand, the Bombay High Court in an order passed on 25th July 2023 had a rejected revision petition and stated that the reasons for rejection would be recorded separately.In the SLP filed against this order, the petitioner on 25th August had submitted that the reasoned order had still not been uploaded. In this context, the Apex Court had observed:"There could be urgency to the parties aggrieved by the operative portion of the order which has been uploaded and if the reasons are not available/uploaded, neither the party aggrieved nor the the Court considering the correctness of such order can validly challenge the same or test the same respectively."On 28th August, the Registrar General of the High Court submitted a report informing the Apex Court that the reasoned order had been uploaded on 22nd August, 2023 on the official website of the High Court. Taking note of this report, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition, criticising the counsel for making a misleading statement.Case Title: Vipul Pramodchandra Shah & Anr. V. The State of Maharashtra, Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 10126- 10127/2023 Click here to read/download order

Bombay High Court Informs That Order Was Uploaded; Supreme Court Expresses Disappointment At Counsel's Misleading Statement

Sheryl Sebastian

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