Avoid Dictating Lengthy Judgments In Court; Pronounce Only Operative Part If Dictation Likely To Exceed 20/25 Minutes: Supreme Court To HC Judges

To maximize judicial time by avoiding dictating lengthy judgments in court, the Supreme Court on Monday (Oct. 21) recommended that High Court Judges adopt a practice of pronouncing an operative part of the judgment/order when they believe that the estimated time for dictating a judgment/order would be beyond 20/25 minutes.

The Court added that the operative part of the judgment/order could be pronounced followed by a reason to be supplied by the Judge as soon as possible but not beyond five days. Moreover, if the Judge believes that the reasons can't be supplied due to the extensive judicial load within five days, then it would be feasible to reserve the judgment after the conclusion of the arguments.

To avoid getting the board choked where there remain slim chances to hear the remaining case on board, the bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra observed that the Judges must exercise restraint to pronounce lengthy judgments/orders in open courts. The bench recommended that only such order/judgment be pronounced in court after the conclusion of an argument which does not take more than 20/25 minutes in dictation to avoid piling up case files for the Judges to write decisions.

“The necessity to strike a balance, in turn, has led to an innovative approach (many a times followed even by this Court) which, though not strictly in tune with Order XX, has transitioned into a regular practice by passage of time. This contemplates a rough assessment made by a learned Judge of the time to be taken for dictating a judgment after hearing in a matter is concluded and if, in such assessment, it is likely to take more than 20/25 minutes, the learned Judge proceeds to pronounce the operative part together with the outcome while expressing “reasons to/would follow” and then concludes the exercise of pronouncing the final judgment by providing the reasons as soon as possible thereafter. Having regard to the exploding docket of a majority of the high courts, learned Judges consider it wise and prudent to make optimum use of judicial time by not dictating lengthy judgments in court. This practice, no doubt, seeks to serve a salutary purpose.”, the judgment authored by Justice Datta said.

Also From Judgment: If Judges Pronounce Only Operative Part, Then Reasons For Decision Should Be Given In 2-5 Days

Case Title: Ratilal Jhaverbhai Parmar & Ors. v. State Of Gujarat & Ors.

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 820

Click here to read the judgment