On Thursday, the Court asked all High Courts across the country to provide detailed reports about the cases where judgments were delivered after January 1, 2024, and the dates when those verdicts were uploaded online.
New Delhi, May 22 — The Supreme Court has expressed concern over repeated complaints about delays in uploading judgments by High Courts.
On Thursday, the Court asked all High Courts across the country to provide detailed reports about the cases where judgments were delivered after January 1, 2024, and the dates when those verdicts were uploaded online.
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A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh, which is hearing several matters where judgments have been pending for years even after the hearings were completed, passed the directive with a strict deadline.
The bench ordered:
“In continuation of our order dated May 13, 2025, the Registrar Generals of all the high courts are further directed to submit an additional report giving the full description of the dates of pronouncement of judgments after January 1, 2024 and the dates when such judgments were uploaded. This information up to May 31, 2025 shall be furnished before the date fixed i.e., July 21, 2025.”
This direction comes after the Court earlier pulled up High Court judges for taking long and unnecessary breaks and demanded that their performance be audited.
On May 13, the top court had remarked:
“High court judges were taking unnecessary breaks” and emphasized the need for accountability by stating that “it was high time to assess the expenditure on them vis-a-vis their output.”
The matter came up in a case filed by four individuals who approached the Supreme Court, complaining that the Jharkhand High Court had reserved its order in their criminal appeal against conviction and life sentence back in 2022, but had not pronounced the judgment even after a long wait.
Their lawyer, Advocate Fauzia Shakil, informed the Court that it was only after the Supreme Court intervened that the Jharkhand High Court pronounced the verdicts on May 5 and 6, 2025. She further added that:
- Three out of the four people were acquitted.
- The fourth person’s case resulted in a split verdict.
- The matter was referred to the Chief Justice of the High Court, and
- The person was granted bail.
Taking serious note of the delay, the Supreme Court said the matter was of utmost importance and directly affects the credibility of the legal system.
The bench observed “The issue raised in the case was of ‘paramount importance’ and ‘goes to the root of the criminal justice system’.”
The Court has also clubbed this case with a similar one involving the Allahabad High Court, where a plea had been made for disclosure of both the date of judgment and the date when it was uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website.
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The apex court emphasized:
“It seems to us that the issues noticed in above mentioned orders would require a deeper analysis and mandatory guidelines by this court, so that convicts or undertrials aren’t compelled to lose the trust and faith in the justice delivery system.”
It added that a previously set timeline for pronouncing judgments must be followed, and stated that the Court would also propose a new mechanism to ensure accountability.
Finally, the bench directed the Supreme Court registry to compile data from all the High Courts and posted the matter for hearing in July 2025.
