Faced with inordinate delays in pronouncing verdicts, the Supreme Court on Friday directed all the 25 high courts across India to ordinarily deliver judgments within three months from the date of reserving orders.“If judgments are not pronounced within three months of it being reserved, the Registrar General shall place the case before the High Court Chief Justice. The Chief Justice may then give another two weeks for the judgment’s pronouncement. If this extended timeline is still not complied, the case is to be allocated to another Bench,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant ordered.The Bench, which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipin M Pancholi, noted that inordinate delays caused irreparable loss to litigants.“If reasons are not uploaded within 15 days from the pronouncement of the operative part, then an application can be moved for the same. If they are not uploaded within 30 days, then an application can be made for withdrawal of the case and assigning it to another Bench for hearing.Noting that faster decisions were required in cases of personal liberty, the Bench mandated even faster timelines in cases involving personal liberty. Orders on bail applications should be pronounced the same day, and if reserved, they must be pronounced and uploaded the very next day, it said.An order of bail or sentence suspension should be communicated to the jail authorities as soon as it is pronounced and the undertrial/convict should be released preferably the same day or at most the next day, the top court said even as it clarified that “These directions are not an aspersion on any particular judge or court.”Bail orders have to be promptly communicated to jail authorities, on the same day as its pronouncement and undertrial prisoners should be released the same day of bail being granted or, at the latest by the next day, it said, adding the trial court must inform the high court concerned of compliance in such matters.The directions came on a plea by four convicts belonging to Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes who had alleged that their criminal appeals, reserved by the Jharkhand High Court in 2022, remained pending for two to three years without judgment. They contended that the delay violated their right to life and personal liberty and the right to a speedy trial guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. They alleged that the Jharkhand High Court pronounced the judgment in December 2025 but the order was not uploaded on its website or made available to their advocates.“In my 15 years as a High Court judge, never ever did we reserve a judgment and not deliver judgment within three months,” CJI Kant had said during the hearing.The Bench said when a judgment is pronounced, it is sufficient that the operative part of it be pronounced in open court, but the detailed judgment with reasons should be uploaded within seven days. It said that after conclusion of arguments, the judgment reserved date shall reflect on the high court website.Necessary changes have to be made to the high court website by the chief justice of high courts to comply with these guidelines, it said, directing registrar generals of high courts to place these guidelines before the chief justices.