SC frowns upon ‘cut-copy-paste’ order of Orissa HC

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 5

The Supreme Court is facing a peculiar problem caused by excessive dependence on technology by some high court judges who pass “cut-copy-paste” orders without independent application of the mind.

Confronted with such an order from the Orissa High Court, Justice DY Chandrachud on Friday noted that “One of the problems of the computer-age is copying and pasting of orders. I am fed-up of seeing cut-copy-paste orders of high courts”.

“Independent reasons have to be cited for arming an order. There has to be an independent application of the mind. Cut-copy-paste from the tribunal’s judgment only adds to the volume of pages but does not answer the core issue of appeal,” Justice Chandrachud said while dealing with the UPSC’s petition against an Orissa High Court verdict upholding an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack Bench.

The CAT and HC were supposed to interpret UPSC Rules under Article 320 to decide the legality of the decision to deny a place in the IAS to an officer in view of a disciplinary penalty imposed on him in 2011.

The top court set aside the high court’s decision on the ground that DoPT guidelines and sent the matter back to the court.

“There is no independent application of mind by the high court. Only the Tribunal’s order has been copied…The tribunal directed the appellant-UPSC to reconsider the case of the respondent for promotion to the IAS by reconvening the meeting of the Selection Committee,” it said.

Poor quality of judgments delivered by high courts has been bothering the Supreme Court for several years. In July 2018 it had emphasized that a verdict should clearly narrate facts of the case; issues involved; submissions of the parties; legal principles and reasons for reaching a conclusion.