Justice Lalit: 'If children can go to school at 7 am, SC can begin hearing cases at 9 am

New Delhi, July 15: The Supreme Court usually begins hearing cases at 10.30 a.m. on weekdays, but on Friday, a bench headed by Justice U.U. Lalit assembled an hour earlier and started taking up matters at 9.30 a.m.

During hearing on a matter, Justice Lalit remarked that if children can go to school at 7 a.m. everyday, then why can't judges and lawyers come to court at 9 a.m. Justice Lalit said, "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?"

The bench also comprising justices S. Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia began hearing cases at 9.30 a.m.

Justice Lalit further added that if courts were to begin at 9 a.m. and carry on till 11.30 a.m., followed by a half-an-hour break and then courts could re-assemble at 12 p.m. and carry on till 2 p.m. "You would get time to do more things in the evening..." said Justice Lalit, who is in line to become the Chief Justice of India in August.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing before the bench in a matter, appreciated the court taking up the matters an hour early. Rohatgi said that 9.30 a.m. is a good time to begin the court proceedings.

Usually, Supreme Court benches assemble at 10.30 a.m. on weekdays and take a lunch break at 1 p.m. and re-assemble at 2 p.m. and the judges hear cases till 4 p.m.

Justice Lalit is set to take over from Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on August 27. He will be in office till November 8.