Poor quality HC verdicts bother apex court

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 29

Poor quality of judgments delivered by high courts continues to bother the Supreme Court which has emphasised that a verdict should clearly narrate facts of the case, issues involved, submissions of the parties, legal principles and reasons for reaching a conclusion.

“Indeed, in the absence of any application of judicial mind to the factual and legal controversy involved in the appeal and without there being any discussion, appreciation, reasoning and categorical findings on the issues... It is difficult for this court to sustain such order…,” said a Bench headed by Justice AM Sapre that set aside an order passed by a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore Bench.

Sending back the case relating to Provident Fund Contribution to the high court for deciding it afresh, the top court Bench, also comprising Justice Navin Sinha, said courts need to pass a reasoned order in every case that would enable the parties involved in the litigation to understand as to “why one party has won and other has lost”.

“This only proves that that there are many incompetent judges in the system. It also reflects on the poor judicial appointment process, which remains completely opaque. Unless the selection process is made transparent, we will continue to get such incompetent judges,” said advocate Prashant Bhushan, who has been fighting for judicial accountability and transparency.

This is not the only case of poor quality judgment by an HC. In April last year, the top court had remanded back a case to the Rajasthan High Court after it found that the verdict under challenge neither set out facts nor did it give any reasons for the conclusions reached.

It was surprised to see that the Rajasthan High Court’s judgment didn’t even record the submissions of the parties or examined the issues involved in the context of relevant legal provisions. The SC had taken strong exception to the fact that both the Single Bench and Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court had dismissed the petition at the threshold without proper hearing.

Sending it back, My Lord!

• SC sent a case back to MP HC as verdict didn't record facts, issues, submissions, legal principles and reasons for conclusion

• In April 2017, it remanded a case back to Raj HC for de novo adjudication for similar reasons

• In yet another case, the SC was forced to send a case back to HP HC for deciding it afresh as it was written in incomprehensible English

• Advocate Prashant Bhushan says the problem lies in opaque appointments