SC pulls up High Courts for delayed judgements

The practice of reserving judgments 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 judgment dismissing a petition on December 4 last year and the verdict has not yet been uploaded.

The bench said a complete judgment 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. 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 judgments. 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 will raise this issue in his upcoming meeting with the chief justices of the 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 judgment 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 judgment on December 4, 2025, where the writ petition was dismissed.

The judgment 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 judgment 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 February 16.

In November 2025, the top court directed all High Courts to submit detailed reports on timelines for reserved judgments, including dates of reservation, pronouncement and uploading.

It has been monitoring compliance of its direction mandating that all certified copies of judgments clearly record these three dates.