Overview

• The Supreme Court has directed all high courts to submit reports within four weeks on judgments reserved on or before January 31, 2025, that remain unpronounced.
• A bench led by Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh criticized the Jharkhand High Court for failing to deliver verdicts in 67 criminal appeals between January 2022 and December 2024.
• The court plans to establish mandatory guidelines to ensure timely delivery of judgments and prevent systemic delays in the future.
• Four life convicts argued that delayed verdicts prevented them from accessing remission benefits, highlighting the human impact of judicial inefficiencies.
• Since the Supreme Court's intervention, the Jharkhand High Court has delivered 75 pending judgments, and further updates will be reviewed in July.