The Supreme Court strongly criticized High Courts for not delivering judgments on time even after hearings are concluded. The court has now ordered strict monthly monitoring of reserved judgments to ensure timely justice.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday raised serious concern over the long and unjustified delays by High Courts in delivering judgments after completing hearings.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra expressed its displeasure and observed that such prolonged delays in announcing reserved judgments were “extremely shocking and surprising.”
The matter before the apex court was related to appeals filed by Ravindra Pratap Shahi against interim orders of the Allahabad High Court in a criminal case that has been pending since 2008.
According to records, the criminal appeal was fully heard and reserved for orders by a Division Bench of the High Court on December 24, 2021. However, despite the conclusion of the hearing, no judgment was delivered. This unusual delay forced the case to be transferred to another Bench.
The top court noted that repeated applications were made requesting an early decision, but still no final verdict came.
The Bench observed,
“It is extremely shocking and surprising that the judgment was not delivered for almost a year from the date when the appeal was heard.”
The court further highlighted that it was not an isolated instance. Many such cases repeatedly reach the Supreme Court, where proceedings in High Courts remain pending for more than three months. In some matters, judgments are delayed for more than six months or even years after the hearing has been completed.
Referring to its earlier landmark decision in Anil Rai v. State of Bihar, the Supreme Court stressed once again that timely delivery of judgments is not only necessary but is the backbone of the justice system.
To address this issue, the apex court issued fresh directions. It ordered that Registrars of all High Courts must prepare a monthly report of cases where judgments have been reserved but not delivered in that month.
This report should be submitted directly to the Chief Justice of the respective High Court.
The court further directed that if a judgment remains undelivered within three months, the Registrar General must immediately place the case before the Chief Justice.
The Chief Justice shall then inform the concerned Bench and direct the pronouncement of the judgment within two weeks. If still not delivered, the matter must be reassigned to another Bench for final orders.
The Bench made it clear,
“These directions are in addition to those already issued by this Court in Anil Rai.”
The court also directed that a copy of its judgment must be circulated to the Registrar Generals of all High Courts to ensure strict compliance with these new directions.
- Senior Advocate S. Nagamuthu, along with Advocates Devesh Mohan, Kush Chaturvedi, Prerna Priyadarshini, Syed Faraz Alam, Atharva Gaur, Aayushman Aggarwal and Ayesha Choudhary represented the appellant in the matter.
- Advocate Preetika Dwivedi appeared on behalf of the respondents.
CASE TITLE:
Ravindra Pratap Singh vs State of UP.
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