'Supreme' strictness on delay in uploading orders on website, questions raised on HC's anticipatory bail order
Supreme Court: Usually, court orders are immediately uploaded on the website, so that transparency is maintained and the parties can know what the decision is. With such a long delay in uploading the order, the court has indicated that the matter is not a simple mistake, but a matter of serious investigation.
The Supreme Court has made a serious comment on an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The matter is about the order of dismissal of an anticipatory bail petition, which was passed by the High Court on 31 July. However, this order was not uploaded to the High Court website till 20 August. The Supreme Court took a tough stand on this delay and ordered that the steno book (typing register) of the secretary of the concerned judge be seized, so that it can be ascertained when the order was actually typed and when it was corrected.
The bench of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Vishnoi said that at first glance, this matter looks suspicious. The court found that when the hearing was held on August 20, the order was not available on the website. After this, the Supreme Court had sought a report from the Registrar General of the High Court.
According to the report, the Registrar General sought clarification from the secretary of the concerned judge on August 22. The secretary responded on the same day, and the order was also uploaded to the website on the same day. The secretary only said in his reply that the judge was undergoing some medical procedure and surgery from August 1 to August 20. But it was not clarified when the order was finally uploaded to the website.
The bench said that it seems that the order was not passed on July 31, but it was prepared and uploaded after the intervention of the Supreme Court. That is why the court ordered that the steno book of the judge's secretary be seized. It should be found out on which day the order was typed and when it was modified on the computer. A report of typing and uploading of the order should be taken from the National Informatics Center (NIC), and it should be presented in the Supreme Court along with an affidavit.
This entire case is related to the anticipatory bail of a person, whose petition was rejected by the High Court. The Supreme Court has granted interim relief to the petitioner during this period. The court said that the police will not take any harsh action (such as arrest) till the next hearing of the case for four weeks, provided the petitioner continues to cooperate in the investigation. A notice has also been issued to the Haryana government in this matter.
