In 2000, the top court in Bhagwandas Fatehchand and Others v. HPA International and Others had specifically lamented the practice of constitutional courts reserving judgments for long durations. In this case, the High Court had delivered its judgment nearly five years after reserving the same. The Supreme Court said that a long delay in delivery of judgment gives rise to unnecessary speculations in the minds of parties to a case.
Anil Rai v. State of Bihar (2001) is considered a landmark ruling on the issue of delay in delivery of judgment by the constitutional courts. In this case, the top court, while deciding an appeal against a Patna High Court judgment which was delivered two years after it was reserved, came down heavily on the High Court. The Court in this judgment issued directions to be followed by High Courts to ensure that verdicts are pronounced without delay.
“It is true, that for the High Courts, no period for pronouncement of judgment is contemplated either under the Civil Procedure Code or the Criminal Procedure Code, but as the pronouncement of the judgment is a part of the justice dispensation system, it has to be without delay…Delay in disposal of the cases facilitates the people to raise eyebrows, sometimes genuinely which, if not checked, may shake the confidence of the people in the judicial system…It is the policy and purpose of law, to have speedy justice for which efforts are required to be made to come up to the expectation of the society of ensuring speedy, untainted and unpolluted justice,” the Court had said.
In Anil Rai, the Court said that if a judgment is not pronounced within three months from the date of reserving it, any of the parties in the case is permitted to file an application in the High Court with a prayer for early judgment.
Further, the Court had said that if a judgment is not pronounced within a period of six months, the parties can move an application before the Chief Justice of the High Court with a prayer to withdraw the said case from the bench that reserved it and have it before another bench.
Source: Barandbench
