Judicial process – Justice delivery system – Delay in pronouncing judgments after hearings – Judicial deprecation – On facts, criminal appeal pending before the Allahabad High Court since 2008, heard and reserved for orders on 24.12.2021, but the judgment not delivered, and directed to be relisted before the Regular Bench – Propriety:
Held: Extremely shocking and surprising that the judgment not delivered for almost a year from the date when the appeal was heard – Said situation not arisen for consideration for the first time – In most of the High Courts, no mechanism where the litigant can approach the concerned Bench or the Chief Justice bringing to its notice the delay in delivery of judgment – In such situation, the litigant loses his faith in the judicial process defeating the ends of justice – Directions already been issued by this Court in Anil Rai’s case that if the judgment, for any reason, is not pronounced within a period of six months, the parties entitled to move an application before the Chief Justice of the High Court with a prayer to withdraw the said case and to make it over to any other Bench for fresh arguments, is reiterated and adherence to the principles laid down in Anil Rai’s case required – Further, directions issued to the High Courts on pronouncing reserved judgments – Registrar General of each High Court to furnish to the Chief Justice of the High Court 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 – If the judgment is not delivered within three months, Registrar General to place the matters before the Chief Justice for orders. [Paras 7, 10, 11]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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