‘Some Take Too Many Breaks’: Supreme Court Orders Performance Review Of Judges

SOURCE ; NEW18

Last Updated:May 14, 2025, 11:59 IST

The Supreme Court voiced its concern while hearing a plea from four life convicts belonging to Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes communities.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday voiced the need for a comprehensive performance audit to assess the functioning of judges, citing a growing number of complaints regarding the efficiency of High Court judges.

A Bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice NK Singh orally noted that while many judges demonstrate diligent work ethics, concerns have arisen about others who frequently take unnecessary breaks, prompting questions about their effective utilization of court time.

“There are some judges who work very hard, but at the same time, there are judges who are unnecessarily taking coffee breaks; this break or that break. What is for lunch hour, etc. We are hearing a lot of complaints about the High Court judges. This is a larger issue which needs to be looked into. What is the performance of the High Court judges? How much we are spending and what is the output? It’s high time we do a performance audit,” the Court said as per Bar and Bench.

The Supreme Court voiced its concern while hearing a plea from four life convicts belonging to Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes communities. These individuals alleged that the Jharkhand High Court had failed to pronounce judgments on their criminal appeals for an extended period of two to three years after reserving them.

The Court had previously sought information regarding the status of these long-pending cases. On May 5, the Supreme Court directed all High Courts to submit reports detailing cases where judgments remained pending despite the matters being reserved. Continuing its scrutiny, the Supreme Court reiterated the paramount importance of this issue, suggesting the potential issuance of guidelines to ensure the timely delivery of judgments. The Court emphasized that the matter directly impacts the fundamental principles of the criminal justice system.

“The issued raised in 5th May is of paramount importance goes to the root of criminal justice system,” it said.

On May 9, Supreme Court took further steps which included a request for reports from High Courts specifying the dates of judgment pronouncement and their subsequent publication on court websites.

“It seems that the issues noticed in the above mentioned orders would require and deeper analysis and mandatory guidelines by this Court, so that convicts or undertrials aren’t compelled to lose faith in the justice delivery system and to avoid the petitions like one in present case,” it noted.

First Published:

May 14, 2025, 11:59 IST