Supreme Court Directs High Courts to Create Dashboards on Reserved and Delivered Judgements to Ensure Transparency

In a major step to enhance judicial accountability and transparency, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all High Courts across the country to set up dashboards on their official websites displaying data on reserved judgements, delivered verdicts, and the dates of their upload.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, expressing concern over long delays in pronouncement of verdicts even after hearings had concluded, said the information must be made public. “Let everyone know how many judgements were reserved, in how many cases orders were passed and on which date the decision was uploaded on the High Court website,” Justice Kant remarked. Justice Bagchi concurred, observing that such a public dashboard would “reflect the accountability of the judiciary towards the people.”