Shocking delays: Top court sets 3-month deadline for HC verdicts

Expressing shock at high court judges often keeping judgments reserved for months, the Supreme Court has set a three-month deadline for them to deliver verdicts. If a judgment is not delivered within an additional two weeks past that deadline, the case will be reassigned to another judge.

A Bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra termed the practice “extremely shocking and surprising,” saying that such delays cause litigants to lose faith in the judicial process and defeat the ends of justice.

Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Mishra said, “This court is repeatedly confronted with similar matters wherein proceedings are kept pending in the high court for more than three months, in some cases for more than six months or years wherein judgments are not delivered after hearing the matter.” The court highlighted that most high courts lack a mechanism for litigants to report delays in judgment delivery.

The order came on appeals filed by one Ravindra Pratap Shahi challenging certain interim orders passed by the Allahabad High Court in a criminal case pending since 2008.

One of the parties to this case had moved the high court on nine different occasions for early listing, hearing and disposal of the appeal. However, no final verdict was given by the high court. Eventually, after hearing the criminal appeal at length, a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court reserved its orders on December 24, 2021. Since no judgment was delivered, the Chief Justice directed it to be relisted before the Regular Bench on January 9, 2023.

“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 top court said.

Referring to its 2001 ruling in Anil Rai vs State of Bihar, the top court emphasised that timely pronouncement of judgments was an essential part of the justice delivery system. “These directions are in addition to those already issued by this Court in Anil Rai,” it clarified.

Reiterating the directions in Anil Rai’s case, the top court directed the registrar general of each high court to “furnish to the Chief Justice of the high court a list of cases where the judgment reserved is not pronounced within the remaining period of that month and keep on repeating the same for three months”. It ordered that the judgment be sent to high court registrar generals for compliance.