Delhi HC delivered 378 judgments on Day 1 after summer break

The judgments not only reduced case backlog, but the detailed judgments also laid down legal principles and guidelines that could serve as precedents in future cases

Despite working at a current strength of 60%, the Delhi high court delivered 378 judgments on July 1, when it reopened after a four-week summer break, according to data accessed by HT. This included 362 judgments on the “appellate” side and 16 on the “original” side.

The Delhi high court delivered 362 judgments on the “appellate” side and 16 on the “original” side. (Representative photo)

To be sure, while the high court in “appellate” side deals with civil and criminal matters, the court in “original” side deals with commercial matters, including intellectual property rights, arbitration and cases where the suit value exceeds ₹2 crore.

On the appellate side, two benches led by court’s third senior-most judge Navin Chawla, along with justices Shailender Kaur and Renu Bhatnagar, disposed of 306 civil cases. A bench of justices C Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul resolved 20 cases, also on the civil side. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma single-handedly disposed of 10 criminal cases, and justice Jasmeet Singh delivered six of 16 judgements pronounced by the high court’s original side.

The judgments not only reduced case backlog, but the detailed judgments also laid down legal principles and guidelines that could serve as precedents in future cases.

In one instance, justice Sanjeev Narula in an 82-page verdict on setting aside the sentence review board’s (SRB’s) decision to reject premature release of Santosh Kumar Singh—serving a life term for the 1996 rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo—issued guidelines for the Delhi government to ensure that SRB’s decisions align with the objectives of the policy and uphold fairness and justice. In a separate ruling, justice Narula held that fugitives could apply for pre-arrest bail under the Indian law governing extradition.

Coming to the aid of an eight-year-old autistic girl, justice Vikas Mahajan reaffirmed that educational institutions were legally obligated to provide inclusive education and accommodate children with special needs under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.

In an 85-page ruling, bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shailender Kaur dismissed 226 petitions filed by Centre against the disability pension awarded to ex-armed forces personnel, ruling that pensions can’t be denied merely due to the disability occurring during a “peace posting,” and stressing the need to recognise hardships of military service.

Even as vacation benches continued to hear urgent matters three days a week, other judges continued with their effort to bring down the backlog. In June, bench of chief justice DK Upadhyay and justice Tushar Rao Gedela directed the consortium of National Law Universities declare revised CLAT PG results, after finding two errors in the consortium’s answer key. Additionally, a bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora specially assembled during vacation to assess the progress of authorities in cleaning a smelly culvert accessed every day by over 3,000 soldiers of Rajputana Rifles to head to their parade ground, and the construction of a foot overbridge to address their ordeal.

While the Delhi high court continued its work during the summer break, the Supreme Court, in November 2024, replaced the term “summer vacation” with “partial working days”, acknowledging that a section of the judiciary remained operational throughout breaks. Even during the current break of the Supreme Court, which commenced from May 23, Chief Justice of India BR Gavai renamed the vacation as “partially working days” and marked a departure from the practice of senior judges including the CJI, not holding court hearings during summer break, by assembling in the first week along with the four senior-most judges.