Supreme Court judges lament comments about working

The Supreme Court on Wednesday lamented that despite the effort put in by judges, who burn the midnight oil even during vacations, they have to stomach comments about working very little.

A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma made the remark while hearing a plea of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren challenging his arrest in a money laundering case and seeking interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Soren, complained about a Jharkhand High Court bench having taken two months to pronounce the verdict on the JMM leader's plea against his arrest.

"Unfortunate part, Mr Sibal, is that despite the efforts we put in as judges, we have to hear that judges work for very few hours," Justice Datta said, adding judges also have to do their homework.

"Judges are not before us. They can't explain what prevented them from pronouncing the verdict. So, benefit (of doubt) has to be given to them," the apex court said.

Sibal said the delays in passing judgements have an impact on the citizens.