Supreme Court Intervention Yields Results in Jharkhand High Court
The Supreme Court of India received encouraging updates on Friday regarding the long-pending judgment crisis at the Jharkhand High Court. Senior advocate Ajit Sinha informed the apex court that the high court has successfully delivered 32 judgments out of 61 cases where verdicts had been reserved for over six months.
This development comes after the Supreme Court had placed the Jharkhand High Court under close scrutiny for its failure to pronounce judgments for extended periods, particularly in critical criminal matters involving death sentences and life imprisonment cases.
Judges Working Diligently to Clear Backlog
Appearing before a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, senior advocate Ajit Sinha assured that the remaining judgments would be pronounced within one month's time. He confirmed that high court judges have been actively working on completing the pending verdicts after receiving the Supreme Court's message.
"They have delivered 32 judgments till now and the remaining will be done in a month's time. The oral message of the court was placed before the judges of the high court and they are working on giving verdicts in remaining cases," Sinha stated during the hearing.
The Supreme Court bench acknowledged the progress and decided to take a comprehensive view of the matter, scheduling the next hearing for January while tagging it with other pending cases.
Background of Judicial Delays and Supreme Court's Firm Stance
The current situation stems from the Supreme Court's strong intervention on August 8, when it suggested that Jharkhand High Court judges take leave specifically for writing pending judgments. The top court had observed dozens of cases where judgments remained undelivered despite being reserved.
According to earlier information provided to the court, there were exactly 61 cases as of January 31 where judgments had not been pronounced after being reserved for more than six months.
The matter reached the Supreme Court through a batch of petitions filed by students from remote tribal areas of Jharkhand. These students complained about judgments not being delivered since 2023 in cases concerning home guard appointments.
The petitioners had approached the high court after the Jharkhand government cancelled recruitment for over 1,000 home guard posts advertised in 2017, despite their names appearing in the merit list. The high court had heard the matter since 2021 and reserved judgment on April 6, 2023, for pleas filed by over 70 aspirants.
On May 16, the Supreme Court had directed the high court to file a status report of all pending cases where judgments were reserved on or before January 31, covering both criminal and civil matters.
Previous Success Stories and Performance Concerns
This isn't the first instance where Supreme Court pressure has yielded results in Jharkhand High Court. On July 21, the apex court was informed that the high court had delivered verdicts in cases involving 10 convicts, including six death row prisoners, within a week of the Supreme Court issuing notices on their pleas complaining about delayed appeals.
Advocate Fauzia Shakil, representing the convicts, had submitted that the high court pronounced these verdicts rapidly after the Supreme Court's intervention on July 14.
Earlier, on May 13, the Supreme Court had expressed serious concerns about Jharkhand High Court judges taking breaks "unnecessarily" and called for performance audits to ensure better judicial efficiency.
The ongoing monitoring by India's highest court continues to push for timely justice delivery, emphasizing the importance of judicial accountability and the fundamental right to speedy justice for all citizens.
