This is the fourth instance of the Supreme Court expressing an unfavourable view of a judgment from Himachal Pradesh High Court.
In April 2017, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta had set aside a judgment of the Himachal Pradesh High Court because of the convoluted English used in the judgment.
We will have to set it aside because one cannot understand this,” the Supreme Court had said when remanding the matter back to the High Court for re-drafting the judgment.
That judgment too was authored by Justice Sureshwar Thakur.
In another instance, a Bench of Justices AM Sapre and Indu Malhotra of Supreme Court had in December 2018, taken exception to the fact that the Himachal Pradesh High Court had devoted 60 pages to write an order for remanding a matter back to the first appellate court.
“Brevity being a virtue, it must be observed as far as possible while expressing an opinion,” the Supreme Court had noted in its order while hearing the appeal against High Court order.
More recently in March 2021, the top court was again left stumped by language blues after it could not decipher a judgment in appeal, once again from Himachal Pradesh High Court.
A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah had said that the purpose of judgments is to convey the basis and reasons for its decision not only to lawyers but also to citizens who approach courts for remedy.
Court judgments should,therefore, be in language which can be understood not only by lawyers but also citizens who approach courts, the Bench had emphasised.
Source: Barandbench
