Supreme Court Issues Guidelines for Filing Written Submissions and Compilations before Constitution Benches and in important Final Hearing Cases [Read Circular]

The Supreme Court of India has issued guidelines for written submissions and compilations before the constitution benches and in important final hearing cases vide circular issued on 22nd August 2023.

In accordance with the circular, these guidelines will apply to final hearings before Constitution Benches and other Benches involving large records and multiple counsel assisting the Court. The guidelines provide a Standard Operating Procedure for (i) filing soft copies of written submissions and common compilations of documents, rules, and precedents; and (ii) fixing timelines for oral arguments.

The Bench would in advance nominate nodal counsel comprising of an Advocate-onRecord / Advocate each representing the side of the appellants and the respondents.

The nodal counsel will coordinate with all lawyers appearing in the case and compile and file in the electronic form five volumes duly indexed as set out below:

1. Volume I – Written Submissions of Petitioners/Appellants
2. Volume II – Written Submissions of the Respondents
3. Volume III – Documents: This will include pleadings, affidavits and orders which are a part of the record but compiled for convenience of reference.
4. Volume IV – Statutory enactments and research material: This shall comprise of statutes, rules, regulations, legislative debates, report of Commissions and other material such as research articles.
5. Volume V – Precedents

i. The Judgments may be arranged topic-wise or chronologically as decided by the nodal counsel; and

ii. Counsel relying on foreign cases shall provide PDF copies of the decisions relied on by them to the nodal counsel.

iii. Neutral citations should be attached.

Note:

(a) Volumes III , IV and V shall comprise of material relied on by both the sides.

(b) Additional written submissions/documents/statutory material/precedents shall only be applied with the permission of the Court.

Practice directions on filing formats:

The volumes shall be in the following format:

1. Format: In PDF format only;
2. Font: Times New Roman, Size – 12.5;
3. Margins: 2.54 cm on all sides [‘Normal’ setting on MS Word];
4. Line spacing: 2;
5. Pagination: The running pages and PDF pages must be the same;
6. The PDF must be bookmarked;
7. The index must be hyperlinked;
8. Name of Counsel: The written submissions must highlight the name of the counsel and of the Senior Advocate, if any;
9. The written submissions must reflect the name of the party for whom they are filed; and
10. If the Court permits the filing of additional material, they shall be given continuous page numbers and filed in the appropriate volume. The documents shall also be indexed and bookmarked accordingly.

Tentative timelines

1. Arguing counsel and Senior Advocates, through their AORs, must inform the nodal counsel about the tentative timelines for their oral arguments at least five days prior to the commencement of the hearing;
2. The nodal counsel shall prepare and present to the Court a statement of proposed timelines for all counsel; and
3. The Court will finalize and prescribe the timelines for oral arguments. This prescription shall be adhered to by all counsel.

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