SC concerned over delays by HCs in pronouncing judgements

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has voiced strong concern over long delays by High Courts in pronouncing judgments after hearings are concluded, warning that such a situation erodes “litigants’ faith in the judicial process”.

A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra reiterated that if a judgment is not delivered within three months of being reserved, the Registrar General must place the case before the Chief Justice of the High Court, who will call upon the concerned Bench to pronounce it within two weeks.

If the order is not passed even then, the Chief Justice will reassign the matter to another Bench, said the Justice Karol-led Bench.

It added that the Registrar General of each High Court must furnish to the Chief Justice a list of cases where reserved judgments are not pronounced within that month, and keep on repeating the same for three months.

The Supreme Court noted that it is “repeatedly confronted” with cases where proceedings are kept pending in the High Courts for over three months, and in some instances for more than six months or even years.

The top court observed that most High Courts lack a mechanism for litigants to flag delays in the delivery of judgments to the concerned Bench or the Chief Justice, causing loss of litigants’ faith in the judicial process and defeating the ends of justice.

Disposing of a special leave petition (SLP) concerning a criminal appeal pending since 2008 in the Allahabad High Court, the apex court termed it “extremely shocking and surprising” that the judgment was not delivered for nearly a year from the date when the appeal was heard.

The delay was confirmed by the report of the Registrar General of the Allahabad

High Court, which noted that despite repeated listings before different Benches, the criminal appeal remained undecided. The Justice Karol-led Bench directed that a copy of its judgement aiming to reduce delays be circulated to Registrars General of all High Courts for compliance.