The Supreme Court held that stay orders on both, civil or criminal proceedings can’t be extended more than 6 months unless there is a good reason. The Apex court also stated that any stay will automatically expire after the period of six months even if it is given by any high court.
The application was filed by the Asian resurfacing road agency pvt. Ltd. since they were aggrieved by the order of the additional chief judicial magistrate Pune, where the magistrate refused to proceed with the trial stating that “The lower Court cannot pass any order which has been stayed by the Hon’ble High Court” the aggrieved thus moved to the Supreme Court.
The Bench including Justice RF Nariman, Justice Navin Sinha and Justice KM Joseph, directed the magistrate to set a date on expiry of six months of stay order and stating that “We expect that the Magistrates all over the country will follow our order in letter and spirit.” The Court frowned upon the fact that instead of following their order the magistrate ordered the applicant to move their application for resumption of trial to the Bombay high court and said “We must remind the Magistrates all over the country that in our pyramidical structure under the Constitution of India, the Supreme Court is at the Apex, and the High Courts, though not subordinate administratively, are certainly subordinate judicially.”
The court clarifying the position directing all the courts of the country stated that “We expect that the Magistrates all over the country will follow our order in letter and spirit. Whatever stay has been granted by any court including the High Court automatically expires within a period of six months, and unless extension is granted for good reason, as per our judgment, within the next six months, the trial Court is, on the expiry of the first period of six months, to set a date for the trial and go ahead with the same.”
The court allowed the application and disposed of it directing the additional chief judicial magistrate, Pune to set down the case for hearing immediately.
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