New Delhi : Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, the second senior most judge of the Supreme Court, after the current Chief Justice of India, on Friday said that if children can go to school at seven in the morning, why cannot judges and lawyers start their day at nine am in the morning.
Today, Justice Lalit started the court proceedings at around 9.30 am, one hour before the usual court timing of 10.30 am.
“If children can go to school at seven in the morning, why cannot judges and lawyers start their day at nine,” Justice Lalit remarked on Friday.
As per the protocol, and time table, the Supreme Court judges starts their court proceedings at 10.30 am daily. It is followed by a lunch break for an hour between 1 pm and 2 pm.
Along with Justice Lalit, the bench also comprised of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia.
Praising the bench for sitting early, former Attorney General (AG) and senior Supreme Court lawyer, Mukul Rohatgi said, “I must say that this time of 9.30 is a more proper time to start courts.”
After hearing this from Rohatgi, Justice Lalit replied that he has always held the view that the court should sit early. “Ideally, we should sit at 9 in the morning. I have always said that if our children can go to school at 7 in the morning, why can’t we come to court at 9?”.
Justice Lalit, is scheduled to be the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) in August, after CJI NV Ramana.
Justice Lalit suggested that the Supreme Court benches should start at 9 am and rise at 11.30 am for a half-hour break. Again, the court proceedings should begin at 12 and finish by 2 pm. You would get time to do more things in the evening, he said.
Justice Lalit is set to take over as the next CJI, after the current CJI NV Ramana who will retire on August 26.
