Cases under Stay Orders

Grant of stay orders in civil and criminal cases is part of judicial proceedings and Courts have been vested with inherent powers in this regard under the relevant provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. So also, hearing and disposal of Court cases under various laws fall within the domain of judiciary. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha recently, Minister of Law & Justice, Shri Salman Khurshid, said that no day-to-day records of court proceedings are possible to maintain at different stages centrally.

He further informed the House that in a recent judgement in the case of Imtiyaz Ahmed Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors, the Supreme Court had the occasion to look in to the issue of grant of stay orders by the High Courts during investigation or trial in criminal matters. In this case, the Supreme Court has inter-alia observed as follows:

(i)         Such an extraordinary power has to be exercised with due caution and circumspection;

(ii)        Once such a power is exercised, High Court should not lose sight of the case where it has exercised its extraordinary power of staying investigation and trial; and

(iii)       High Court should make it a point of finally disposing of such proceeding as early as possible but preferably within six months from the date the stay order is issued.