Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Thursday firmly criticised the practice of out-of-turn oral mentions by advocates, cautioning that the Supreme Court will soon begin imposing penalties for such frivolous requests. “From Monday onwards, I will issue another notification. If any mentioning appears unjustified, I will levy costs on the spot,” the CJI said in open court.

He indicated that a circular will shortly prescribe a minimum cost of ₹50,000 for improper mentioning. The funds collected, he added, will be utilised to build a corpus for young lawyers and to support training initiatives for legal professionals. Addressing members of the bar, he noted that such costs could help generate resources while curbing unnecessary urgency pleas.

After Justice Surya Kant assumed office as CJI, the Supreme Court had already issued a circular restricting oral mentioning before the CJI for priority listing. Under the revised rules, oral mentions are allowed only in exceptional situations of genuine urgency, and only after compliance with the prescribed procedure. The circular further guarantees that cases falling under urgent categories will be automatically listed within two days of filing.