SCC Pre 69 Volumes were released by the Chief Justice of India, Justice NV Ramana on August 10, 2022 at The Claridges, New Delhi. Justice BV Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Mr Arvind P Datar, Senior Advocate were the special guests for the evening.
The event also witnessed the presence of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Vikram Nath, Justice JK Maheshwari, Justice CT Ravi Kumar and Justice AK Sikri, sitting and former Judges of the Supreme Court of India. Justice Rajiv Shakdher, Judge, Delhi High Court, Justice KK Lahoti, Former Acting Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court and Senior Advocates Siddharth Luthra and Neeraj Kishan Kaul, members of the Editorial Board of SCC were also present for the event. Messages by Mr KK Venugopal, Attorney General for India, Mr Abhishek Singhvi, MP and Senior Advocate and Mr KK Viswanathan, Senior Advocate were read out by Mr Sumeet Malik, Associate Editor, SCC during the release as they could not make it because of bad health.
Over a period of time, Supreme Court Cases has earned an enviable reputation of being the most accurate and reliable reporting of law in India. This reputation has been painstakingly built over years of hard work and quality control. Eastern Book Company, the parent company of SCC, was established in 1942 by Mr. CL Malik and PL Malik and the baton to lead the organisation was subsequently passed on to Mr Surendra Malik. Over the span of 50 years, he has held a tight leash over the quality of law reports and digests produced by EBC. So particular is Mr Malik about his workmanship, that every single judgment published by SCC has 27 copy-editing inputs in order to make it as readable and user-friendly as possible. It can be safely said that till a couple of years ago he had read almost every judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of India. Today EBC, under his stewardship and of Mr. Sudeep Malik, Associate Editor, SCC, has embarked on reporting and publishing Supreme Court judgments since the inception of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice NV Ramana after releasing the volumes congratulated SCC and EBC and stated that what they had achieved was owing to the hard work and contribution of three generations of the Malik family. He stressed on the need for accurate reporting of judgments and court proceedings. “There is a need for accurate reporting. Otherwise people are confused. Majority reports don’t know what is order, proceedings, judgment, oral observations. It is very unfortunate. Suppose a judge asks a negative question, immediately it is reported, he said. He implored upon Mr Surendra Malik, Chief Editor, SCC to start a daily reporting service for accurate reporting of judgments since SCC has the expertise to be able to do it. His Lordship was informed of the SCC Online Blog which already carries analytical reports of judgements delivered.
The Chief Justice requested the judges’ fraternity to focus on simplicity in judgments where the ratio and decision is clear. The Chief Justice emphasised that the reporting of law judgements is necessary because the people of India should be aware of their constitutional rights. He also implored that focus should be on making law reports reasonably priced and in regional languages. His Lordship’s speech can be viewed here:
Justice BV Nagarathna on the occasion of the release of the SCC Pre 69 volumes stated that the series is highly relevant from a historical and academic point of view. She suggested to SCC to venture further in the history of legal reporting in India. She applauded SCC for well edited and annotated legal reporting and for improving the accessibility of law to the public. Mr Arvind P Datar, while speaking at the launch, said that SCC Online is perhaps the most user friendly database for legal research. Mr. Sudeep Malik, Associate Editor, SCC emphasized on the importance of pre 69 volumes by stating that “Life of the law of precedents is not binding precedents, but persuasion.”
Supreme Court Cases™ (SCC™), the most cited law report will now commence from 1950. Reporting for the years 1950 to 1968 will be completed over the next five years. Judgments for this period will be head-noted with the same hallmark quality for which SCC™ is now known for and will have some unique features. Some judgments hereto delivered by the Supreme Court never reported before, find their place in this report series.
