High Courts not subordinate to us; can't direct time-bound disposal of their cases: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that it cannot compel High Courts to take up cases in a time-bound manner[Geeta Arora @ Sonu Punjaban v. State of NCT of Delhi]..A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Prasanna B Varale made it clear that High Courts are not subordinate to the apex court.The Bench was hearing a plea by a woman seeking interim bail on account of the fact that her son had failed in six subjects.Counsel for the woman said that the Delhi High Court had not dealt with the application for suspension of sentence depsite 36 sittings, with the roster judge in question not hearing more than 15 cases a day. "My child needs me. I have been getting parole earlier as well. High Court has not yet decided on my plea. With due respect...can this Court direct for timely disposal?"Justice Nath then remarked,"We can request the High Court to take up your plea for suspension of sentence. But we cannot direct it. High Courts are not subordinate to the Supreme Court. We cannot direct them for time-bound disposal of any particular case."The Bench thereafter proceeded to pass an order requesting the High Court that the application for suspension for sentence of the appellant be heard and decided expeditiously..The High Court judge being referred to is Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta..The instant appeal against the orders of the Delhi High Court adjournments was filed through Advocate Purnima Krishna..In February 2023, the Supreme Court observed that the High Courts are also constitutional courts and cannot be regarded as subordinate to the Supreme Court.A year earlier, it had held that High Courts do not function under the administrative superintendence of the Supreme Court.Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S Oka had earlier this year emphasised that every court is a court, and trial judges should not to carry any inferiority complex as they are doing the same work "as those on Constitutional courts.".[Read Order]