Urgent Listing and Mentioning in Delhi High Court

What mentioning means in the Delhi High Court

A 'mentioning' is a short request made to a bench, usually at the start of the day's sitting, asking it to take up a matter earlier than it would otherwise be listed. It is not a hearing on merits. The advocate states in a few sentences what the case is, what will happen and when, and why the ordinary listing will be too late. The bench then allows the request, gives a date, or declines it.

Urgent listing is the result the mentioning seeks: the matter appears in a supplementary list the same day, or in the next day's cause list, instead of waiting its turn. Fresh matters that are filed and cleared by the Registry are listed in the ordinary course within days anyway, and for most cases that is quick enough. Delhi High Court urgent mentioning is for the cases where it is not.

This page is written by a private law firm and is not the Delhi High Court's website. The procedure for mentioning has changed several times in recent years, by practice direction, as to who hears it, at what time and in what format. For the current position, check the 'Notifications and Practice Directions' section of the court's official site.

Only the advocate on record, or a party appearing in person, can mention. A relative cannot walk up to the bench on the accused's behalf, and a request sent by a party to a judge's office by email or letter outside the established procedure will not be acted on.

Who hears a mentioning: fresh matters and pending matters

A practice direction issued by the Delhi High Court on 27 May 2025 sets out three rules. Fresh urgent matters are mentioned before DB-I, the first Division Bench, which is the Chief Justice's court. Urgent matters in pending cases are mentioned before the roster bench dealing with that case. Applications for review, recall, correction, clarification or modification of an order or judgment are mentioned and listed before the bench that passed it.

In practice this means that a new anticipatory bail application, a new writ against a demolition notice or a new Section 9 arbitration petition is mentioned first in the Chief Justice's court. If the request is allowed, the matter is directed to be listed, usually before the roster bench that ordinarily hears that category of case, the same day or the next. The first Division Bench does not usually decide the case itself on mentioning.

For a case already pending, there is no need to go to the first Division Bench. The application for early hearing, or for urgent interim relief, is mentioned before the bench that has the case. If that bench is not sitting that day, the Registry's listing practice for such situations applies. These arrangements are set by practice direction and can be revised, so check that the May 2025 direction is still the current one before relying on it.

Delhi High Court urgent mentioning: what counts as urgent

The court asks one practical question: if this matter waits for its ordinary date, will the case become pointless, or will harm happen that cannot be undone? The clearest examples are arrest or a threat of coercive action, demolition or sealing with a fixed date, a sale or auction of property, a travel restriction against someone who must fly, a deportation, an admission or counselling deadline, a medical emergency of a person in custody, and an interim order that is about to lapse.

Before Advocate B.K. Singh mentions a matter, he asks the client one question: what exactly happens, and on what date, if the court does not hear this until the ordinary listing? If the answer is not a concrete date and a concrete consequence, the matter usually goes through the normal list, which is often only a few days later anyway.

For Delhi High Court urgent mentioning, things that do not make a case urgent include financial loss that can be compensated later, a general wish to have the case heard soon, a long-running dispute in which nothing new has happened, and urgency created by the party's own delay. A bench that sees the same advocate claim urgency for routine matters will be less willing to hear that advocate's genuine emergencies.

The court also looks at the gap between the event and the filing. If a sealing notice was served on the first of the month and the petition is mentioned on the twenty-eighth, the urgency is partly self-made. That does not always defeat the request, but the explanation has to be in the papers.

Urgent listing of a fresh matter: the ordinary route

Every fresh filing that needs early attention carries an urgent application at the front of the paper book, stating the reason for urgency in a few lines. This goes to the Registry with the e-filing. Where the reason is clear and the filing is clean, the matter can be listed quickly in the ordinary course without anyone having to mention it.

The commonest reason a genuinely urgent matter is not listed in time is not the bench but the paper book: missing annexures, an unattested affidavit, a court fee shortfall or a missing CNR, any of which sends the filing back for correction. Our guide on e-filing in the Delhi High Court explains the format the Registry expects.

Mentioning is used when the ordinary route will be too slow even for a clean filing: when the demolition is tomorrow morning, or the flight is tonight. It can also be used to ask the court to take up a matter despite curable objections, with an undertaking to cure them, though benches allow this only where the urgency is real.

Early hearing in a pending case

Many urgent situations arise in cases that are already pending. A writ filed last year may have its next date in February, but in October the authority issues a fresh demolition notice. An appeal against a decree may be listed for final hearing next year, but the decree holder has moved for attachment of your bank account now.

The remedy is an application in the pending case, either for early hearing (sometimes called advancement of the date) or for urgent interim relief, filed with a short affidavit and the new document. It is mentioned before the roster bench under the May 2025 practice direction. The bench may advance the whole case, list only the application, or pass a short interim order and keep the main date.

An interim order that is about to expire is a frequent reason for mentioning. Interim orders are usually granted 'till the next date of hearing', and if the matter does not reach the board on that date, the order may need to be extended. Our guide on how long interim orders last explains when an order continues and when it needs to be renewed.

How urgent mentioning works, step by step

This is the usual sequence for a fresh matter. For a pending case, the same steps apply with the application mentioned before the roster bench.

1. Collect the document that shows the threat

   The notice, order, auction publication, LOC intimation, police notice or admission schedule that fixes the date. Without it, the urgency is only a claim.

2. Draft and e-file the matter

   Prepare the petition or application with an urgent application on top and file it with the court fee. Note the diary number.

3. Serve an advance copy

   Send the full set to the government standing counsel, the Additional Public Prosecutor or the opposite party's advocate, and keep the proof of service for the bench.

4. Prepare the urgency note

   A short note, usually a page, stating the date of the threatened action, when you learned of it, why you could not come earlier and what interim order you seek.

5. Mention before the right bench

   Fresh matters are mentioned before the first Division Bench and pending ones before the roster bench, at the time and in the manner the current practice direction prescribes.

6. Follow the bench's direction

   If the mentioning is allowed, the matter is listed the same day or the next. Make sure the paper book is complete and any objections are cured before it reaches the board.

7. At the hearing

   The bench may issue notice and grant interim protection, list the matter after a few days with the other side present, or decline interim relief and keep it on the regular list.

The urgency note: what to write

The urgency note is the most important page in an urgent filing, because it is often all the bench reads before deciding whether to take the matter up. It should state, in order: what the case is about in one sentence; what will happen, with the exact date and, if known, the time; the document that shows it; when the client first learned of it; why the matter was not filed earlier; whether the other side has been served; and the precise interim order sought.

Keep it factual. 'The MCD notice dated 14 October fixes demolition on 21 October; the petitioner received it on 16 October; the petition was filed on 18 October after obtaining the sanctioned plan from the department; an advance copy was served on the MCD's standing counsel at 4 pm on 18 October' is far more persuasive than a paragraph about grave and irreparable injury.

In Advocate B.K. Singh's experience, the most common reason a mentioning fails is an unexplained gap between the notice and the filing. He puts the explanation for that gap in the urgency note itself, with dates, rather than waiting for the bench to ask. Disclose earlier proceedings too: a previous petition on the same subject, a refusal by the trial court, or an order of another bench. Concealment discovered later can cost you the interim order and invite costs.

Notice to the other side and orders without notice

The Delhi High Court generally expects the other side to have an advance copy before a matter is heard, and in government cases the standing counsel's office is usually present or reachable by the time the matter is called. Our guide on what an advance copy is and why it is served explains how this is done and proved.

Orders without notice to the other side are passed only where giving notice would defeat the purpose, for example where a party would remove goods or transfer property if warned. In civil suits, Order XXXIX Rule 3 CPC requires the court to record reasons for granting an injunction without notice and requires the plaintiff to send the papers to the defendant immediately after. The defendant can then apply to have the order set aside under Order XXXIX Rule 4.

If you expect the other side to rush to court, file a caveat. Our guide on what a caveat is explains how it ensures you are heard before an order is passed against you. A caveat is a common reason why an urgent mentioning ends with the bench saying 'serve the caveator and list tomorrow' instead of passing an order the same day.

Typical timing for different kinds of urgency (ranges, not promises)

Vacations, holidays and after court hours

The Delhi High Court has a long summer vacation, usually in June, and a winter break in the last week of December. During these periods, vacation benches sit on notified days to hear urgent matters, and the court issues a notification listing the benches, the days and the categories of matters they will take up. Bail, habeas corpus, demolition, urgent civil injunctions and similar matters are typically included. Check the notification for the current vacation before planning a filing.

On ordinary court holidays and weekends, there is no regular sitting, but a system exists for real emergencies. In extreme cases, such as an illegal detention, a demolition starting that night, or a deportation about to be carried out, the Registry can place a matter before a designated judge outside court hours, sometimes at the judge's residence or by video link. This is used rarely and only where waiting until the next working day would make relief meaningless.

Vacation benches and after-hours judges usually grant short interim protection and send the matter to the regular bench after the vacation. They are not the place for a final decision, and a filing made in vacation that is not truly urgent is likely to be adjourned to the reopening date.

Which court should hear it

Urgency does not change jurisdiction. The Delhi High Court can hear a writ only if the authority is in Delhi or part of the cause of action arose here, under Article 226(2). A Gurugram family facing a Haryana demolition order, or a Noida trader facing a UP authority, ordinarily has to go to the Punjab and Haryana High Court or the Allahabad High Court, however urgent the matter.

Some urgent remedies start lower down. A demolition or sealing order under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act is generally appealable first to the Appellate Tribunal MCD, and the High Court expects that route to be used unless there is a good reason. Our page on MCD and DDA sealing and demolition cases explains when the High Court will step in directly. For anticipatory bail, the Sessions Court and the High Court have concurrent power, and although it is not a strict rule, the High Court often expects an applicant to have approached the Sessions Court first unless there are special reasons. The service page on anticipatory bail in the Delhi High Court explains when to go directly.

If you are abroad, or your travel is being blocked, the forum is usually the Delhi High Court where the LOC was opened by an agency in Delhi. Our page on quashing a Look Out Circular covers those cases, which are among the most frequently mentioned matters at the court.

Keep these ready before your advocate mentions

• The notice, order or document that fixes the date of the threatened action, with proof of when you received it
• Earlier orders and petitions on the same subject, including any refusal by a lower court
• Proof of advance service on the government counsel or the opposite party
• Flight bookings, admission schedules, auction notices or medical papers that show the deadline
• A signed vakalatnama and an attested affidavit, or a note on when the attested copy will follow
• Phone numbers of the client and a family member who can confirm facts during the hearing
• Photographs or videos, where the dispute is about construction, possession or sealing

What the court can do on an urgent listing

The bench has several options. It can issue notice and grant interim protection, such as an order of no coercive steps, a stay of demolition or sale, a direction to maintain status quo, or interim bail. It can record a statement by the government counsel that no action will be taken until the next date, which often achieves the same result without a formal order. It can list the matter after a short interval so the other side can file a reply. Or it can decline interim relief and leave the matter on the regular list.

Interim protection in criminal matters comes with reasons. The Supreme Court in Neeharika Infrastructure v. State of Maharashtra (2021) held that 'no coercive steps' orders should not be passed casually in quashing petitions, and the High Court records why protection is given. In civil matters, an injunction requires a prima facie case, balance of convenience and irreparable harm.

Our guide on what happens on the first date of a case explains the hearing itself, and our guide on virtual hearings in the Delhi High Court explains how clients outside Delhi can follow it by video link.

If the other side has mentioned a matter against you

Respondents often learn of an urgent matter only when an advance copy arrives by email the evening before. Read it at once and send it to your lawyer. If you are a government department or a company, inform your standing counsel or legal team the same night so that someone with instructions is present when the matter is called.

At the hearing, you can ask for a short time to file a reply and point out facts the petition left out, such as an earlier order, a pending appeal or a delay. If an order was passed without hearing you, apply to set it aside or modify it, under Order XXXIX Rule 4 in civil suits or by an application in the writ or criminal petition. Courts take concealment seriously, and a respondent who shows that the petitioner suppressed material facts can often get an ex parte order vacated.

Mistakes that get an urgent mentioning refused

• No document showing the date. Saying the police 'may come any day' without a notice, summons or other basis rarely persuades a bench.
• An unexplained delay. A notice weeks old and a petition filed the night before, with no explanation, suggests the urgency is self-created.
• No advance copy. The bench may simply direct service and list the matter later, losing the day.
• A defective paper book. The mentioning is allowed, but the matter cannot be listed because the filing still has objections.
• Wrong forum. Mentioning a matter that should have gone to the Sessions Court, the Appellate Tribunal MCD or another High Court invites a refusal on that ground alone.
• Hiding earlier orders. Failing to disclose a previous petition or refusal can cost the interim order and lead to costs.

What to do today

Find the document that creates the urgency and note its date, the date you received it and the date of the threatened action. Gather earlier orders and petitions on the same dispute. Call your lawyer the same day, not on the day before the deadline, because drafting, e-filing and serving an advance copy take time.

If you are abroad, sign and send the vakalatnama and arrange for the affidavit to be sworn. If the court is on vacation, check the current vacation notification for the bench and day. Then make sure someone who knows the facts will be reachable by phone while the matter is being mentioned and heard. The page on cases we handle in the Delhi High Court gives an overview of the work.

Advice on an urgent matter

Urgent listing works when the threat is concrete, the papers are complete and the delay is explained. It fails when any of those is missing. Most of the work happens in the hours before the mentioning, not in the courtroom. Our page on Delhi High Court cases and procedure explains the range of matters the firm takes up at the court.

For advice on whether your matter can be listed urgently, or for updates on the court's listing and mentioning practice, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.