Stay orders of HCs won’t lapse automatically: Supreme Court

• Recently, the Supreme Court addressed a reference concerning the validity of a 2018 judgement in the Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Vs CBI.
• This case questioned the automatic expiration of interim stay orders passed by High Courts after six months unless extended.

The Judgement

• The Supreme Court cannot arbitrarily overturn well-considered interim orders of High Courts staying criminal and civil proceedings.
• The apex court lacks the authority to impose a blanket rule that a stay order issued by a High Court would expire after six months.
• Such constraints would encroach upon the jurisdiction of High Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution.
• Further, the judgement clarified that the SC should refrain from imposing fixed timelines for the disposal of cases by High Courts or trial courts.
  • Orders fixing the outer limit for the disposal of cases should be passed only in exceptional circumstances to meet extraordinary situations.
• The SC’s authority under Article 142 to ensure complete justice does not extend to excessive interference with orders passed by High Courts.
• Article 142 can be invoked only to deal with extraordinary situations for doing complete justice between the parties before the court.

Prelims Takeaway

• Article 142
• High Courts