The Supreme Court of India.
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the practice of reserving judgments for months by High Courts without making them public is an "identifiable ailment" and it must be eradicated.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said, there are broadly two kinds of judges, one is a hard-working judge who will hear everybody and reserve judgment in 10-15 matters even and there are some judges who after this would not deliver the judgments.
"We are not on anyone individually. This is a challenge before the judiciary, and this is an identifiable ailment. It has to be treated and eradicated, and it cannot be allowed to spread," the bench said.
The court was hearing a plea that said the Jharkhand High Court orally pronounced a judgment dismissing a petition on December 4 2025, and the verdict has not yet been uploaded. The court said a complete judgment should be provided to the counsel by the end of next week.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the litigant, said, "It seems some kind of lip service is going on. Some message has to go. This amounts to playing with the majesty of law."
The court also targetted to another prevalent trend that in some cases arguments were heard, and those cases are again posted for further directions.
The CJI also said he would raise this issue in his upcoming meeting with the Chief Justices of High Courts.
"We will discuss this among other agendas. We will try to find a solution so that such avoidable litigation ends," he said.
The bench noted that the Jharkhand High Court pronounced the judgment on December 4, 2025, where the writ petition was dismissed, but the judgment has not been uploaded yet.
"We have impressed upon the counsel appearing for the high court that there is no rhyme or reason for such delay. Let a complete judgment be provided to the counsel by the end of next week," the bench said.
The court listed the matter in the week commencing on February 16.
The court in November 2025 had directed all High Courts to submit detailed reports on timelines for reserved judgments, including dates of reservation, pronouncement and uploading.