A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud with Justices Abhay S Oka, JB Pardiwala, Pankaj Mithal, and Manoj Misra said that there cannot be automatic vacation of stay orders after six months as laid down in its 2018 judgment in Asian Resurfacing Of Road Agency v. Central Bureau Of Investigation.
“We have held we do not agree with Asian resurfacing….There cannot be automatic vacation of stay,” the Court held.
The Court, therefore, set aside the directions in 2018 judgment in Asian Resurfacing in which a three-judge bench of the top court had directed that all stay orders in criminal as well as civil proceedings would be valid only for six months unless specifically extended.
The Court said that it is unable to concur with the directions issued in para 36 and 37 of the decision in Asian Resurfacing case.
“A direction of stay of all interim orders passed by High Court automatically expire with lapse is something which cannot be issued under Article 142. Constitutional courts should refrain from laying down time bound schedule for cases pending before any other courts,” the Supreme Court said.
Such directions for timebound decisions should be issued only in exceptional circumstances, the Constitution bench further said.
The bench had reserved its judgment in the case on December 13. Notably, none of the counsel who appeared in the matter supported the automatic vacation of stay orders.
Source: Barandbench
