The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea by 10 convicts, six of them on death row, who contended that the Jharkhand High Court had reserved — but was yet to pronounce — judgments on their appeals, despite the hearings concluding in 2022 and 2023.
Only two of these 10 cases find mention in the report submitted to the SC by Jharkhand HC’s Registrar General after the top court sought data on such matters, the petitioners’ counsel told a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi.
On April 23, the SC had sought the data on a similar plea by four other convicts and directed the HC Registrar General to file a sealed cover report “in respect of all the reserved judgments, which are more than two months ago”.
On May 5, after the Jharkhand HC Registrar General filed the report, the SC said it “reveals there are 56 matters, including some criminal appeals, where a learned Division Bench of the High Court has finally heard the matters on different dates ranging from 04.01.2022 till 16.12.2024 but the final pronouncements are still awaited.” However, the SC said “the list of 56 matters… does not contain the (4) criminal appeals filed by the petitioners” and directed that “for the time being the report shall be kept in sealed cover.
On Monday, appearing for the 10 convicts, Advocate Fauzia Shakil, while seeking suspension of their sentence, pointed out that eight of these matters do not figure in the Registrar General’s report, indicating the actual number of such cases may be much higher. The SC then issued notice to the Jharkhand government and HC Registrar General.
A scrutiny of the Jharkhand HC orders in the 8 matters shows that judgments in all of them were reserved by two-judge benches presided by Justice Rangon Mukhopadhyay — 7 in 2022, one in 2023. In the matter of the four other convicts, too, the verdict was reserved by two-judge benches led by Justice Mukhopadhyay.
On May 5, The Indian Express reported that after the SC’s April 23 order, “the Jharkhand HC pronounced judgments in over 75 criminal appeals in just one week.” Taking note of it, the SC asked the Jharkhand HC Registrar General to furnish the list of the 75 appeals so decided. It also directed the Registrar Generals of all HCs “to submit” within four weeks, “a report in respect of those cases where the judgments were reserved on or before 31.01.2025 and where the pronouncement of judgmnts is still awaited.”
