Some judges take too many breaks: Supreme Court calls for performance audit of judges

The Supreme Court on Tuesday orally observed that it is high time that a performance audit is conducted to evaluate the working of judges, particularly since numerous complaints are being received about the efficiency of High Court judges [Pila Pahan and ors v. State of Jharkhand and anr]..A Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice NK Singh observed that while some judges work very hard, there are others who unnecessarily take frequent breaks, raising concerns about their use of 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..The Court made these oral observations while hearing a plea by four life convicts belonging to Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities, who alleged that the Jharkhand High Court failed to deliver a verdict on their criminal appeals despite reserving these matters for judgment for over two to three years.The Court had earlier sought information on the status of these cases.Yesterday, it was noted that judgments in all four cases have now been pronounced. While appeals were allowed in three of the cases, there was a difference of opinion in the fourth case and the matter was referred to another Bench. Consequently, all four petitioners have been released from jail, the Court was told..Notably, on May 5, the top court had also called for reports from all High Courts with information on cases where a judgment is yet to be pronounced by the High Court, despite the matter having been reserved for a verdict.On Tuesday, the Supreme Court observed that this issue is of paramount importance and hinted that it may issue guidelines to ensure that judgments are pronounced without any delay. ''The issued raised in 5th May is of paramount importance goes to the root of criminal justice system," Court noted..Further, on May 9, the top court called for reports from High Courts on the dates on which judgments were pronounced and the dates when those judgments were published on court websites.The Court yesterday observed that such issues require a deeper examination to ensure that litigants do not lose faith in the justice system. "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 said. The matter is listed next in July. .Advocate Fauzia Shakil appeared for the petitioner..[Read Live Coverage]