In a major push for judicial reforms, the Supreme Court on Friday laid down strict timelines for High Courts on pronouncing judgments and hearing bail matters, saying “justice cannot wait” and delays were affecting the administration of justice across the country. A three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India issued uniform guidelines while hearing a matter seeking structural reforms to address delays in pronouncing and uploading judgments after orders had been reserved.
The top court directed that High Courts must pronounce judgments within a maximum period of three months from the date on which verdicts are reserved.
Flagging concerns over prolonged delays, the bench observed that such a situation was adversely impacting litigants and, in several cases, petitions were becoming infructuous because of the time taken in delivering verdicts.
“We needed to remedy the issues surrounding delay in pronouncement of judgment,” the bench said, adding that the case was fit for invoking the Supreme Court’s powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to frame uniform judicial guidelines.
The court also issued stringent directions regarding bail matters. It said bail applications should ideally be heard, pronounced and uploaded on the same day. If an order is reserved, it must be pronounced the following day and uploaded immediately.
In another significant direction, the Supreme Court said orders granting bail or suspending sentences must be communicated to jail and other concerned authorities as soon as they are pronounced. The court said undertrials or convicts should preferably be released on the same day or, at the latest, by the next day.
The bench noted that an amicus curiae had submitted four volumes of reports compiling High Court-wise data on delays, along with suggestions from various High Courts for evolving uniform norms across the judiciary.
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