New Delhi: The judicial process is of India is famous for being sluggish, a part of which happens due to the stay orders by courts. But on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered to limit the stay orders by for a period of six-month shelf life. The set limit will revive thousands of cases across the nation, which were stalled for many years due to some or the other reason.

The Apex Court ruled that all cases, which were held up due to a stay order will have to be restarted automatically at the end of six months from Wednesday onwards. In very rare exceptional cases, depending upon the judges’ decision the stay order can be continued for some more time, but the judge needs to furnish details with reasons in written order.

The rule of six-month would be applied to all stay orders which were granted by courts from now on wards.

“In cases where stay is granted in future, the same will end on expiry of six months from the date of such order unless similar extension is granted by a speaking order. The speaking order must show that the case was of such exceptional nature that continuing the stay was more important than having the trial finalized,” a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court has given order.

The judges ordered that the decision taken will have be sent to all high courts with a copy of it for compliance.

A study was conducted by the law ministry in 2016 and it concluded that the stay on court proceedings by the High courts and the Supreme Court can delay trials for upto 6.5 years.

The verdict by the Supreme Court on Wednesday is related to a case which was registered nearly two decades ago pertaining to a scam in building roads in the national capital. In the case the trial court formally charged the accused and in response to the ruling they went to the high court to challenge it and there it was stayed the proceedings till it decided the main petition. And in the year 2013, the same case reached the Apex Court of India.

“Remedy is required not only for corruption cases but for all civil and criminal cases where on account of stay, civil and criminal proceedings are held up,” Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Navin Sinha ruled in their verdict. Justice RF Nariman, in his separate verdict, agreed with the conclusion reached by the two judges on the petition at hand but did not refer to the six-month deadline.

With this verdict, process for many cases will speed up and the parties can get them solved in gradual and speedy manner. But there are many more reforms needed to further speed up the Judicial System of India.

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