Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday set a precedent by hearing cases till 3.30 am on Saturday before breaking for vacation.
According to News 18, Justice S J Kathawalla has been burning the midnight oil since the last one week to reduce pendency and finish hearing matters before the month-long summer break kicks in from May 5.
“While his court room number 20 has been functioning till midnight over the last one week, on Friday, breaking all the records, the room was packed till 3:30am with litigants and advocates. He heard more than 135 matters since morning, 70 of which were urgent matters,” the report added.
While this is the first time Justice Kathawalla sat in the court till so late, two weeks ago, he had heard matters in his chamber till midnight.
“Justice Kathawalla, even at that hour (3.30 am), was as fresh as one would be in the morning. My matter was one of the last ones to be heard. Even then the judge heard our arguments patiently and passed orders,” another senior counsel, Praveen Samdani, said.
Justice Kathawalla often begins the court proceedings at 10 am, an hour earlier than the other judges, and hears matters beyond 5 pm, when the court shuts for the day.
Twitter user Poulomi Saha, who works as a journalist wrote, “Bombay High Court shows the way. It was functional till 3:30am this morning, with lawyers arguing various cases before Judge Kathawala who wanted to clear some backlog before the court broke for vacation today. The spirit matters in a country where cases linger on for eons.