Looking at skies for pigeons to communicate orders: SC on bail delays

Exasperated over reports on delay in implementation of bail orders the Supreme Court Friday said it would implement a ldquosecure credible and authentic channelrdquo for transmission of the orders for execution saying in the digital age ldquowe are still looking at the skies for the pigeons to communicate the ordersrdquoChief Justice of India CJI N V Ramanaled bench was irked over the increasing number of reports regarding delay in implementation of the orders passed by the top court and has recently taken suo motu cognizance of news reports of delay by Uttar Pradesh authorities in releasing 13 prisoners who were granted bail by it on July 8The convicts who were juveniles at the time of offence were lodged in Agra Central jail for periods ranging from around 14 to 22 years in a murder caseSoon after taking up the suo motu case the special bench also comprising justices L Nageswara Rao and A S Bopanna sought a proposal from the Secretary General of the apex court within two weeks on implementing a scheme aimed at revolutionizing transmission of court Orders to all concerned in a ldquofast and secure mannerrdquoI am directing Secretary General of the Supreme Court to place report in two weeks time so well try to implement the scheme in a month the CJI observedIn a hearing conducted through videoconferencing the bench also directed all the states to respond on availability of internet connection in jails across nation as without this facility transmission of such orders to prisons will not be possibleAs soon as the bench took up the case it referred to the delay in release of 13 prisoners from Agra jail despite the apex court granting bail to them saying ldquothis is the situation and this is too muchrdquoThis court has passed orders releasing prisoners but they were not released saying they havent received copies of orders This is too much it saidSolicitor General Tushar Mehta flagged the instances where some accused have been attempting to fudge court orders and said the jail authorities should act upon the orders once they are uploaded on the official web site of the courtldquoWe are in the age of information and communication technology and we are still looking at the skies for the pigeons to communicate the ordersrdquo the CJI observedChristened as FASTER Fast and Secure Transmission of Electronic Records the innovative scheme is conceived for delivery of orders to concerned prisons District Courts High Courts as the case may be for instantaneous delivery of orders passed by apex court through a secure communication channel the sources said about the system which would be implementedldquoThis will save time and effort and will ensure that there are no delays in implementation of the orders passed by the Supreme Courtrdquo they saidThe top court appointed senior advocate Dushyant Dave as an amicus curiae for assisting it in implementing the scheme and asked the Secretary General to coordinate with him before sending the proposal to the benchThe Secretary General would be also cooperating with Solicitor General on the issue it saidThe top court on July 13 had taken suo motu cognizance of delay on the part of Uttar Pradesh authorities in releasing 13 prisoners who were granted bail by it on July 8The 13 convicts had approached the top court claiming their detention to be ldquoillegalrdquo as there were clear orders passed by the Juvenile Justice Board with regard to each of them at various intervals between February 2017 and March 2021 declaring them to be juvenile at the time of murderThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever