Supreme Court Summons Allahabad High Court Registrar To Explain Delay In Listing Of Criminal Appeals

The Supreme Court has directed the Registrar Judicial (Listing) of the Allahabad High Court to appear before it on October 16, 2025, to explain the procedure for listing criminal appeals. The Court noted with concern that as many as 2,297 appeals in the High Court involve accused persons who have been incarcerated for over ten years, and in 52 appeals, the period of incarceration exceeds fifteen years. The Court said that the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court must be apprised of this development. “we direct the Registrar Judicial (Listing) who submitted the Report dated 27.09.2025, or the incumbent officer, to remain present in Court on the next date of hearing with complete working plan concerning listing and/or hearing of these appeals. Learned Chief Justice of the High Court be apprised of the passing of this order.”, the Court ordered. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra passed an order. On earlier occasion the Court has called for an effective plan about the listing, but noted that Registrar's report was silent on this aspect, where “it could have been easily indicated, (a) the number of benches constituted and hearing such appeals; (b) whether service upon the parties are complete or not; (c) whether the paper books were ready for hearing of the appeals; and (d) the difficulties faced in listing these appeals for hearing, with specific reasons assigned therefor.”, the court added. Background An SLP was filed before the Supreme Court by the Petitioner-convict against the High Court's 2010 order rejecting his bail plea under Section 389 Cr.P.C., preferred during the pendency of his appeal against the conviction. His Appeal before the High Court has been kept pending since 2010 without being listed for hearing, and the petitioner-convict has been incarcerated for over 21 years. On Sep. 08, 2025, the Court issued notice to the Registrar (General) of the High Court, directing him/her to submit a report as to "1) why the appeal preferred in the year 2010 has not yet been listed for hearing? and 2) what steps are being taken for disposal of the appeal pending consideration, where the accused are suffering incarceration for a long period of time?"Further, the court directed the Registrar (General) to furnish information in a tabular chart as to how many such appeals are pending consideration, where the accused are suffering incarceration for a period of at least ten years. The Court received the report on September 27, 2025, in which it was stated that there are 2,297 appeals pending in the High Court, which involve accused persons who have been incarcerated for over ten years, and 52 appeals, the period of incarceration exceeds fifteen years. However, no roadmap, procedure, or difficulty faced in listing was stated in the report. In this backdrop, the Court asked the Registrar Judicial (Listing) to appear before the Court and apprise it of the listing procedure of Criminal Appeals. Cause Title: CHATRA PAL VERSUS STATE OF U.P. Click here to read/download the orderAppearance: For Petitioner(s) Dr. Sofiya Begum, Sr. Adv. Mr. Tabrez Ahmad, Adv. Mr. Syed Mehdi Imam, AOR Mr. Komal Jadaon, Adv. Mr. Pushpa Kishore, Adv. For Respondent(s) Mr. Shaurya Sahay, AOR Mr. Aman Jaiswal, Adv. Ms. Palak Mathur, Adv. Mr. Tanmaya Agarwal, AOR Mr. Wrick Chatterjee, Adv. Mrs. Aditi Agarwal, Adv.

Supreme Court Summons Allahabad High Court Registrar To Explain Delay In Listing Of Criminal Appeals

Yash Mittal

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