In an unusual move, the Supreme Court on Friday suggested that judges of the Jharkhand High Court take their sanctioned leave to write long-pending judgments, after finding that dozens of cases had been reserved but not decided.
A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, hearing petitions related to recruitment of Home Guards in Jharkhand’s remote tribal areas, noted that 61 cases remained pending for pronouncement of verdicts. The court told senior advocate Ajit Sinha, appearing for the High Court, “Ask the Jharkhand High Court judges to take their sanctioned leave of 10-12 weeks and write the judgments. Judges today have a lot of leave left. Just get rid of these cases. People need decisions; they are not concerned about jurisprudence or anything else. Give reasoned orders on whether or not to grant relief.”
Sinha referred to figures as of January 31 and said that several orders had been passed since then. Justice Surya Kant, however, remarked that 61 was still a large number and asked him to convey the court’s suggestion to the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. “It is our request — just do it. Convey our suggestion to the Chief Justice,” Justice Surya Kant said.
In its order, the Supreme Court directed that High Court judges take immediate steps to complete the pending work. The matter will be listed again after three months, by which time the required work is expected to be done.
The petitions before the Supreme Court alleged that judgments in the Home Guard recruitment cases had been reserved since April 6, 2023, without pronouncement. The candidates — over 70 petitioners represented through advocate Vanya Gupta — approached the High Court after the Jharkhand government cancelled the recruitment of more than 1,000 posts advertised in 2017, despite their names being on the selection list. The High Court heard the matter from 2021 and reserved its verdict on April 6, 2023.
Although Sinha informed the bench that orders had since been pronounced in the students’ matter, the court’s observations reflected broader concerns. The Jharkhand High Court has been under Supreme Court scrutiny for years for delays in delivering judgments, particularly in criminal cases involving death sentences and life imprisonment.
On May 16, the Supreme Court had directed the High Court to file a status report on all pending reserved judgments in civil and criminal cases as of January 31.
