The Supreme Court on Friday tossed out a plea for urgent hearing on a PIL which said 100% increase in bus fares in the Capital would hit commoners hard.
The apex court said it was not set up to hear matters like bus fares and the petitioner would do well to move Delhi high court.
For the past few months, especially since pendency of cases in the apex court touched the scary limit of 50,000 cases, judges in the highest court have been circumspect in entertaining PILs and petty matters. The hearings have been swift and fast. ‘Time is of essence’ appears to have become the mantra of the apex court.
The court had even refused early hearing on appeals which were admitted in the year 2005 and were lying in cold storage, saying the petitions admitted in 2003-2004 were being heard and that everyone must wait for their turn.
In this backdrop comes the high-stakes RIL-RNRL dispute. Volumes and volumes of documents get filed along with the appeals. More are added to it by documents handed across the Bar. When the court wanted to know the time both sides would take, a rough estimate was made and it appears that the three-days-a-week argument will go on till the third week of November. One party has already argued for six days and is yet to complete. The other party is sure to match it not only in arguments but also in time to present its case.
