HCs should avoid unnecessary, off-the-cuff remarks: SC

High courts should avoid making unnecessary and offthecuff remarks during hearings as they may have serious ramifications the Supreme Court said on FridayThe apex courts advice came during hearings on COVID19 related pleas after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing for the Centre and the Bihar government respectively said that such remarks gave the impression as if authorities were doing nothingThe high courts of Madras and Delhi have been very critical making strong observations against the Centre and various authorities for the way they have been handling the severe second wave of COVID19A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud hearing the suo motu case on COVID19 management in the country took note of the submissions of the Centre and Bihar government and cautioned restraint to High CourtsEven when we are criticising a judgement of a High Court we do not say exactly what is in our heart and we exercise a degree of restraint We would only expect that as freedom has been given to the High Courts to deal with these issues certain ofthecuff remarks which are not necessary may be avoided said the bench which also comprised Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra BhatGovernment officials including those who are COVID19 infected are working tirelessly to deal with the pandemic situation the lawyers saidCastigating officers on duty is very demoralising Kumar saidThe bench said judges also know that this is a new time where every word said by them become part of social mediaAll we can say that we expect a degree of respect and restraint the bench saidThe top court said particularly in sensitive matters it tended to exercise some caution and restraintIt is not because we are fearful of our remarks Of course we are independent It is only because of the serious ramifications which offthecuff remarks about private citizens may have Justice Chandrachud saidSometimes judges make some observations to elicit proper response from lawyers which should not be considered as those remarks against anyone it saidThe bench said when judges say something in court it is only to elicit information and response from lawyers so as to enable an open dialogueIt is not the conclusion on anything it is only to test the hypothesis of the lawyer and the other side it saidSometimes high court judges are stressed about local conditions and at times they may make strong remarks the bench said adding but we must not be so fragile as to get offended by themThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever