SC directs HCs to pronounce judgement within 3 months of reserving order

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed High Courts across the country to pronounce the judgments within three months of a case from the date of reserving order, with faster timelines in cases involving personal liberty. 

What did the court say?

While stressing the need for speedy decisions in matters involving personal liberty, the bench comprising of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Baghchi on Friday said that bail pleas should ideally be decided on the same day.

The court said that If orders are reserved, they must be pronounced and uploaded by the following day.

The apex court also said orders granting bail or suspending sentences should be promptly communicated to jail authorities, with the undertrial or convict released preferably the same day or, at the latest, the next day.

What is the reason of decision?

The Supreme Court directed the High Courts while hearing an application complaining of delays in the upload of a High Court judgment. 

The application said that the Jharkhand High Court had pronounced the judgment in December 2025, but the ruling was yet to be uploaded on its website or released to the litigant's counsel.

What did the Top Court say to High Court?

In the order, the Supreme Court held that the bail orders must be ideally pronounced the next day, and communicated to the jail the same day. The Top Court also ordered for the undertrials to be released the same day or the next day at the latest after getting bail.

The operative part of a judgment must be announced in Court and reasons uploaded in a week, and the High Court websites must reflect the date of reservation of the judgment, the Supreme Court said.

“The case would be allocated to another Bench if the binding guidelines are not followed by the Bench in question. The copies of the Supreme Court judgment must be placed before the Chief Justices of High Courts,” the Court said in its statement.