Interim Orders Cannot Expire Automatically: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India today set aside its 2018 judgment wherein it was held that interim orders passed by Courts will automatically lapse and expire after six months unless they are specifically extended by the Court.

Bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice JB Pardiwala, Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Manoj Misra overturned the Supreme Court's judgment in Asian Resurfacing of Road Agency Pvt. Ltd. VS. Central Bureau of Investigation (2018).

The Court said that when a High Court passed an interim order of stay, though the interim order might not expressly say so, the three factors, viz; prima facie case, irreparable loss, and balance of convenience, are always in the back of the judges' minds.

"Though interim orders of stay of proceedings cannot be routinely passed as a matter of course, it cannot be said that such orders can be passed only in exceptional cases. Nevertheless, the High Courts, while passing orders of stay in serious cases like the offences under the PC Act or serious offences against women and children, must be more cautious and circumspect," the Court added.

The Court opined that without application of mind, an order of interim stay could not be vacated only on the ground of lapse of time when the litigant is not responsible for the delay.

It was reasoned by the Court that, "An interim order lawfully passed by a Court after hearing all contesting parties is not rendered illegal only due to the long passage of time."

The instant case was an appeal against the judgment handed down by the Allahabad High Court wherein the Court had differed with Asian Resurfacing and had framed ten questions of law for the Apex Court to consider.

The Apex Court further held that higher constitutional courts must abstain themselves from setting out timelines for disposal of specific or particular cases and leave it to the judge or magistrate hearing the case to schedule them as per their docket magnitude.

Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Manoj Misra pronounced their separate but concurring opinions today in open court.

High Court Bar Association, Allahabad vs. State of UP & Ors. [2024]