'Very disturbing' courts not pronouncing verdicts after reserving orders, will lay down mandatory guidelines: SC

New Delhi: Frowning upon the Jharkhand High Court for not pronouncing verdicts after reserving them for years, the Supreme Court on Monday sought reports within a month from all high courts on cases where judgements have been reserved on or before January 31.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh termed such non-pronouncement of verdicts by courts a "very disturbing issue" and said it will lay down some mandatory guidelines for the high courts.

"Let us see. Honestly speaking it is a very disturbing issue but we don't know the circumstances -- why it has happened -- but we would like to definitely lay down some mandatory guidelines. It cannot be allowed to happen like this," the bench observed.

The top court perused a report of the registrar general of Jharkhand High Court on a plea of four life convicts who have complained that the high court has not pronounced its verdict on their criminal appeals despite reserving its order in 2022.

"Having perused the report sent by the Registrar General of the Jharkhand High Court, it seems to us that we must get such a report from all the high courts.

"Consequently, we direct the registrar general of all the high courts to submit a report in respect of all those cases where the judgements were reserved on or before January 31, 2025, and where the pronouncement of the judgement is still awaited," the court said.

The information shall contain criminal appeals and civil matters separately with a further specification whether it is a division bench matter or single judge matter, the apex court said.

The registrar generals of all the high courts shall furnish the requisite information within four weeks, it said, directing the registry to send a copy of the order to all the registrar generals for necessary information and compliance.

The matter has now been listed for July.

The bench noted that there are a total of 67 cases pending before the Jharkhand High Court where the order has been reserved but judgements have not been pronounced till date.

"In deference, thereto, the RG has forwarded a status report, giving details of the reserved judgements which are over two months old as on April 29, 2025.

"The report gives detail that there are 56 matters including some criminal appeals where the division bench of the high court has finally heard the matters on different dates ranging from January 4, 2022, till December 16, 2024, but the final pronouncements are awaited.

"There are 11 single judge matters also before another judge where the orders are reserved on different dates from July 25, 2024, till September 27, 2024," the bench recorded in its order.

The top court also took on record a newspaper report which said that since April 23, when the apex court has asked the registrar general of the Jharkhand High Court to furnish a report on cases where judgements had been reserved but not pronounced for the last two months, the high court has passed orders in 75 cases.

The bench directed the registrar general of the Jharkhand High Court to furnish the list of these 75 criminal appeals where the judgements have been pronounced by the high court.

"The list will include the dates when the judgements were reserved along with soft copies of the judgement," the bench said.

Advocate Fauzia Shakil, appearing for the four life convicts, pointed out that 10 convicts who are similarly placed are also lodged in Birsa Munda Jail at Hotwar in Ranchi and judgement has not been pronounced by the high court.

"It appears to be a pattern where the high court has not pronounced the verdict despite reserving it," Shakil said and urged the top court to suspend the sentence of the four life convicts, including one who is 72years old and has served more than 15 years in prison.

The bench, while listing the pleas of four convicts on May 12, directed the registrar general of the Jharkhand High Court to furnish the details about the fate of criminal appeals filed by the petitioner lifers.

The top court directed the executive chairperson of the Jharkhand state legal service authority to take immediate necessary steps to provide legal remedy to the 10 prisoners languishing in Ranchi jail and ensure that the convicts like petitioners are not left remediless.

"The state legal service authority will ensure that necessary proceedings are initiated in all the ten matters, the details of which are separately furnished to the secretary of the Supreme Court Legal Service Committee for the purpose of seeking suspension of their sentence and consequential bail during the pendency of their appeals," the bench directed.

The four life convicts -- Pila Pahan, Soma Badang, Satyanarayan Sahu, convicted for murder and other charges, and Dharmesh Oraon convicted for the offence of rape -- have been serving their sentence in Ranchi jail.

In a plea filed through Shakil, they claimed that the Jharkhand High Court reserved orders on their appeals against conviction in 2022 but did not pronounce verdicts.

The plea said, "The petitioners are convicts currently lodged in Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hotwar, Ranchi. They had filed criminal appeals challenging their convictions before the High Court of Jharkhand in Ranchi, and while their appeals were heard and judgments were reserved in 2022, the High Court has not yet pronounced the judgments despite elapsing 2 to 3 years."

The convicts said they belonged to either the Scheduled Tribes or other backward classes.