In a significant move towards enhancing judicial accountability, the Supreme Court (SC) has directed all High Courts across India to establish dashboards on their official websites to display data on reserved judgments, delivered verdicts, and the dates of their upload. This directive, issued on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, aims to promote transparency within the judicial system and address concerns regarding delays in the pronouncement of judgments after hearings have concluded.
The decision was made by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, who emphasized the importance of making this information accessible to the public. Justice Kant, who is the Chief Justice of India-designate, stated, "Let everyone know how many judgments were reserved, in how many cases orders were passed and on which date the decision was uploaded on the High Court website". Justice Bagchi added that such a public dashboard would "reflect the accountability of the judiciary towards the people".
The Supreme Court's directive arose from a plea filed by death row and life convicts who claimed that the Jharkhand High Court had failed to pronounce judgments for years after reserving them. Following the Supreme Court's intervention, the Jharkhand High Court delivered verdicts in those cases, acquitting most of the appellants. Encouraged by this development, other convicts in Jharkhand prisons approached the apex court with similar grievances, leading the bench to widen the scope of the case and seek data from all High Courts on delayed judgments.
The Court has directed that the information should be automated and available in the public domain. This includes details about when judgments were reserved, pronounced, and uploaded by judges. The information should also include cases where hearings were completed but judgments were reserved for more than six months, as well as instances where verdicts were pronounced after a delay of over six months. The data on the websites should give the total number of cases in which judgments were reserved from January 31, 2025, onwards until October 31, 2025, the number of cases in which judgments were delivered during that period, and the dates the verdicts were uploaded to the High Court's website.
During Wednesday's hearing, advocate Fauzia Shakil, who has been appointed amicus curiae, informed the bench that seven High Courts—Allahabad, Punjab and Haryana, Patna, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, Kerala, Telangana, and Gauhati—had not yet submitted their data. Taking a stern view, the bench directed these High Courts to file their reports within two weeks, or their Registrar Generals must appear personally before the Court on the next date of hearing.
The Supreme Court has also asked all High Courts to suggest ways to improve the dissemination of judicial information to the public and to flag any apprehensions regarding the publication of data. The court has given the High Courts four weeks to comply.
This move by the Supreme Court is expected to bring greater transparency and accountability to the Indian judicial system. By making information about reserved and delivered judgments publicly available, the court hopes to ensure that the judiciary is more responsive to the needs of the people and that justice is delivered in a timely manner.
