JUDGMENT

V. R. KRISHNA IYER, J.:— No party to a criminal trial has a vested right in slow motion justice since the soul of social justice in this area of law is prompt trial followed by verdict of innocence or sentence. Since a fair trial is not a limping hearing, we view with grave concern any judicial insoucince which lengthens litigation to limits of exasperation. This key thought prompted us on an earlier occasion to fix a reasonable, yet not hasty, time schedule for the committal proceedings in R. C. 2/- 1977- CIA- I on the file of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi, and this was done viably and with consent of the parties then before us (one of whom is a principal accused represented by Senior Counsel). We are satisfied that the Magistrate has acted in the spirit of this Courts order as indeed he was bound to, in refusing time. Now, another accused, who was not a party to the earlier proceeding in this Court, has come up with a petition praying for modification of the order fixing the time-table for, and injecting a sense of tempo into, the hearing process and committal, on the score that it hurts him by denying sufficient scope to examine the allegedly voluminous recor