NEW DELHI, 3 Feb: The practice of reserving judgements for months by high courts without making them public is an “identifiable ailment” that must be eradicated, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while highlighting the need to ensure timely delivery of justice.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing a plea that said the Jharkhand High Court orally pronounced a judgement dismissing a petition on 4 December last year and the verdict has not yet been uploaded.
The bench said that a complete judgement be provided to the counsel by the end of next week.
Referring to the delay, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for the litigant, said, “It seems some kind of lip service is going on… Some message has to go. This amounts to playing with the majesty of law.”
There are broadly two kinds of judges, the CJI said.
“One is a hard working judge who will hear everybody and reserve (judgement) in 10-15 matters even. There are some judges who after this don’t deliver the judgements. We are not on anyone individually. This is a challenge before the judiciary and this is an identifiable ailment. It has to be treated and eradicated and it cannot be allowed to spread,” he added.
The CJI referred to another prevalent trend – in some cases arguments are heard and are again posted for further directions.
He said he would raise this issue in his upcoming meeting with chief justices of high courts.
“We will discuss this among other agendas. We will try to find a solution, so that such avoidable litigation ends,” he said.
“In my 15 years as a high court judge, I never ever reserved a judgement and did not deliver judgement within three months,” the CJI said.
The bench in its order referred to the facts of the case and said, “The Jharkhand High Court pronounced the judgement on 4 December, 2025, where the writ petition was dismissed. The judgement has not been uploaded yet. We have impressed upon the counsel appearing for the high court that there is no rhyme or reason for such delay. Let a complete judgement be provided to the counsel by the end of next week.”
The matter has now been directed to be listed in the week commencing on 16 February.
In November 2025, the top court directed all high courts to submit detailed reports on timelines for reserved judgements, including dates of reservation, pronouncement and uploading.
It has been monitoring compliance of its direction mandating that all certified copies of judgements clearly record these three dates. (PTI)