Jharkhand HC again comes under SC scanner for not pronouncing verdict for years; report sought
Jharkhand HC again comes under SC scanner for not pronouncing verdict for years; report sought
New Delhi, The Jharkhand High Court again came under the scanner of the Supreme Court on Friday after three students complained that judgement has not been pronounced in their matter related to the appointment of home guards since 2023.
Senior advocate Nikhil Goel told a bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh that a single-judge bench of the high court heard the matter last on April 6, 2023, and said orally that it was reserving it for orders but no judgement has been passed till now.
The bench, after perusing a report filed by the registrar general of Jharkhand High Court in another case related to life convicts, said that details of civil cases have not been filed.
The bench said it appears that the registrar general of the high court misconstrued an order of May 5 passed in another matter, where details of such pending cases were sought.
The top court issued a notice to the registrar general of the high court, directing the official to furnish a report with respect to all the civil matters where arguments have been heard and judgements have not been pronounced, including the writ petitions filed by the petitioners and other co-petitioners in the high court.
"As a matter of fact, the registrar general was expected to send a report with respect to the civil matters also, as clearly directed by the May 5 order… Be that as it may, a comprehensive report with respect to all the civil matters reserved by different benches be furnished," the bench ordered, as it posted the matter for next hearing on May 23.
At the outset, Goel referred to the orders passed by the top court last week in the case of four life convicts, where after the judgement was pronounced by the high court after a delay of over two years.
"There appears to be a pattern. Judgements are not being pronounced after reserving orders," Goel said, adding that on May 5, in the case of four life convicts, the top court recorded from the report of the high court's registrar general that 11 single-bench matters were pending where the judgments were reserved on different dates between July 25, 2024, and September 27, 2024.
"My case is of April 6, 2023, when the matter was last heard by the single judge," Goel said, adding that the report of the registrar general shows nothing before 2024.
He added that a specific information of all the criminal appeals and civil matters with further specification as to whether it was a division bench matter or a single bench matter was sought from the high court.
According to the pleas filed through advocate Vanya Gupta, the three aspirants of home guard positions have sought direction to the high court for pronouncement of the verdict in their cases.
The petitioners approached the high court after the Jharkhand government cancelled the recruitment for over 1,000 posts of home guards advertised in 2017, despite their names having featured in the merit list.
The high court, after having heard the matter since 2021, reserved the pleas filed by over 70 aspirants for orders on April 6, 2023, but still the judgement has not been pronounced.
On May 13, the top court, which was hearing the pleas of life convicts, observed that the high court judges were taking breaks "unnecessarily" and called for their performance audits.
The life convicts, of whom three were acquitted by the high court later after the top court's nudge, approached the apex court through their lawyer Fauzia Shakil, claiming that the Jharkhand High Court reserved its order on the criminal appeal against conviction and life sentence in 2022 but the judgement was not pronounced.
On May 5, the top court expanded the scope of the case and sought a report from all the high courts about pendency of the cases, where judgement has been reserved but orders not pronounced after hearing arguments.
It said the issue raised in the case was of "paramount importance" and "goes to the root of the criminal justice system", and posted the matter for hearing in July.
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