Clients facing a demolition scheduled for tomorrow, a surrender deadline expiring this week, or an auction fixed before the next miscellaneous day ask the same question: how fast can the Supreme Court hear us? The answer runs through the institution of mentioning — the practice by which counsel bring the urgency of a filed matter to the Court’s attention and seek listing out of turn. This explainer describes the machinery as it operates under the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 and the Court’s standing circulars, and what genuinely moves it.
The listing pipeline, and where mentioning fits
The anatomy of a persuasive mentioning slip
✓ Diary or case number and confirmation that defects stand cured.
✓ The event and its date — demolition notice, surrender date, auction proclamation — with the document annexed, not merely asserted.
✓ Why later is too late: one sentence of irreversibility.
✓ The precise prayer: “list on [date]” — courts respond to specific, modest requests.
✓ Candour about history: earlier mentions, earlier refusals, connected matters. Suppression at the mentioning stage poisons the case itself.
Special channels worth knowing
| Situation | Channel |
|---|---|
| After-hours emergencies (execution, deportation, demolition at night) | The Registry’s duty officer mechanism, through which truly extraordinary matters have historically reached judges outside court hours |
| Vacation urgencies | Vacation Benches sit through court holidays; listing before them follows the same urgency logic with vacation-specific circulars |
| Matters already part-heard or with expiring interim orders | Mention before the same Bench, which retains seisin; continuation of interim protection is the standard prayer |
| Connected matters and transferred batches | Mention for tagging — listing alongside the lead matter — which is also the honest route when a similar issue is pending |
A practical note for litigants instructing counsel from Delhi’s trial and High Court practice: build the urgency record before filing. A demolition threatened orally cannot be mentioned; a notice, a photograph, a municipal order can. The difference between an accelerated listing and a routine date is usually a single annexure that proves the calendar.
What mentioning cannot do
Mentioning accelerates; it does not adjudicate. It cannot revive a matter dismissed for non-prosecution (that needs restoration), cannot substitute for interim applications (relief still requires a hearing), and cannot cure a filing that is not ready. Used precisely — sparingly, documented, with specific prayers — it is among the most effective instruments in Supreme Court practice; used loosely, it is the fastest way to spend credibility the client will need later.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice or a solicitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can mention a matter?
The Advocate-on-Record or a senior counsel instructed in the matter. Mentioning practice is periodically regulated by circulars — the Court has at various times required written mentioning slips (now routed digitally through the Registry), confined oral mentioning to specified categories, and designated the mentioning officer’s desk as the first port of call. The current circulars on the Supreme Court website govern the mode at any given time.
What counts as urgency?
Irreversibility is the touchstone: imminent demolition or dispossession, scheduled execution of a sentence or surrender date, expiry of interim protection, auctions and elections with fixed dates, medical emergencies in custody matters. Commercial inconvenience, without an irreversible event, rarely qualifies.
What orders can follow a successful mention?
A direction to list on a specified date — sometimes the same week — occasionally with an interim arrangement continuing the status quo until the listing. Mentioning is not a hearing on merits; it only accelerates one.
Is there a risk in mentioning?
Overstated urgency damages credibility, and courts have imposed costs for manufactured emergencies. The defect status of the filing also matters: a matter riddled with Registry objections cannot honestly be called ready for urgent listing, so cure defects first or explain them in the slip.