HC suspends weekly old-case hearings amid mounting bail matters

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has temporarily suspended its Wednesday hearings of the oldest cases due to mounting pressure from bail and quashing matters, as well as in response to demands raised by the Bar Association.A high court notification stated that there will be no final hearing day on Wednesdays for the next three weeks — until the summer vacation. Instead, all fresh, admission, notice, and adjourned matters will be listed on April 22, 29, and May 6, along with cases already assigned from the Wednesday Weekly Board.To streamline the heavy pre-vacation criminal docket, the notification said, "This arrangement has been made taking into consideration the pressure of bail and quashing matters before the summer vacation, and the existing system will be resumed upon reopening of the courts after the vacation."In July 2025, the high court had decided to dedicate every Wednesday exclusively to hearing the 100 oldest pending cases, in a move aimed at expediting the disposal of long-pending matters.Since then, each bench has been hearing old cases every Wednesday. As part of the plan, the court has been preparing and publishing in advance a list of such cases under the title ‘Wednesday Weekly List (WWL)'.Certain categories of old cases have been excluded from the WWL, including those where hearings were completed and judgments reserved, part-heard matters, and cases where proceedings have been stayed by the Supreme Court. Matters adjourned sine die due to pendency before the apex court were also excluded.Regular final hearings on the oldest pending matters will resume after the four-week summer break, in the first week of June.