Recently, the Supreme Court disapproved of the Allahabad High Court’s handling of a case where a judgment had not been delivered within the stipulated timeframe.

The division Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah held -

if a judgment is not pronounced within six months after being reserved, it should be assigned to another bench for a fresh hearing, rather than being continued with the same bench.”

Case Brief -

In the said matter, an appeal was filed by a convict seeking bail on the grounds of the High Court’s failure to deliver a judgment, which was reserved back in August 2022. The criminal appeal had been pending since 2014.

While analysing the previous report, of HC regarding the status of the judgment, the Assistant Registrar of the Allahabad High Court informed the Supreme Court that the judgment had not been reserved.

After concluding the arguments, the bench directed the parties to file written submissions, with the judgment scheduled to be delivered on May 19.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the delay since August, the Supreme Court noted that this was an “unsatisfactory state of affairs.”

The Top Court held that the case should have been assigned to a different bench after the initial six-month period.

Further, the Court directed the Chief Justice to assign the matter to a new bench, in line with the ratio established in the aforementioned case.

The Court granted interim bail to the accused, pending the final judgment. 

After analysing the whole matter, the Court found it necessary to release the appellant on interim bail.