No early disposal order out of turn
Litigants should be allowed to seek early disposal of their cases only in exceptional cases where justifiable and genuine reasons are made out before the appropriate court, says the High Court of Kerala in Prema Joy v John Britto.
People with resources HC with such requests
There has been an increasing tendency of litigants to approach the High Court for expeditious disposal of lower court cases just because the litigant has the resource to approach it with a prayer to expedite his case. Such a litigant should not be allowed to break the queue and get an undue advantage unless the situation warrants.
Disposal must be based on seniority
The High Court pointed out that ordinarily, the disposal of a case must be as per the seniority or on the chronological basis. Any deviation from that must be an exception on amy valid and genuine grounds. No litigant should normally be allowed to jump the queue over the other litigants who filed cases earlier. Only if a litigant files an application stating the reason for an early hearing of the case and only if the court is satisfied with the reasons furnished can a case be posted out of turn.
HC’s directions to RCCs & Appellate Authorities
When a person gets a direction from the High Court for early disposal of his case, it may lead to injustice to litigants who approached the lower courts earlier.
Therefor the High Court issued the following directions to Rent Control Courts (RCCs) and the Rent Control Appellate Authorities in the State.
- If a party wishes to be heard out of turn, they shall move an application for an early hearing based on any justifiable or valid reasons before the appropriate court.
- The Rent Control Court / Appellate Authority shall dispose of such applications as expeditiously as possible.
- Brief speaking orders must be passed by courts, while allowing or rejecting a prayer for early hearing.
- The courts should bear in mind requests for hearing cases on a priority basis must be entertained only in exceptional cases where justifiable and genuine reasons are made out.
- A litigant is allowed to approach the High Court seeking expeditious disposal of their case only after taking the above steps.
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