The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a petition seeking directions to the high courts across India to adopt a uniform judicial code. A bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat said it was not inclined to entertain the plea. The plea was later withdrawn. The plea was filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, saying such a step would contribute to access to justice for the citizenry. “Direct all the High Courts to take appropriate steps to adopt a uniform procedure for case registration, use common judicial terms, phrases and abbreviations, and make the court fee uniform,” the plea has stated.
Alternatively, direct the Law Commission of India to prepare a report in consultation with the High Courts in order to make judicial terms, phrases, abbreviations, case registration and court fees uniform, it has added. The petition has submitted that the terminology used by different high courts for different types of cases is not uniform, and this non-uniformity causes inconvenience not just to the general public but, in many cases, to the advocates and the authorities as well. “All the 25 high courts across the country have different usage of the phrases when it comes to identifying different cases,” said the plea.