Rule 16. Power of adjournment

Chapter II · Powers and Functions

16.1 The rule

All adjournments shall normally be sought before the concerned Bench and in extraordinary circumstances, the Registrar may, if so directed by the Appellate Tribunal in chambers, at any time adjourn any matter and lay the same before the Appellate Tribunal in chambers.

16.2 What it does

Count the cap in adjournments, not in dates. Three adjournments to a party under the proviso to s.113(2) means the matter can stand on four hearing dates for that party, not three — the first listing is not itself an adjournment. On the analogous provisions, a Bench also may not fix three dates in one notice and treat a single non-appearance as having spent the cap. Note the limit of the authority: it construes the adjudicating-authority and CESTAT provisions; no court has construed s.113(2) itself. Authorities at Part P, P14.