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The Supreme Court on Tuesday formulated a Committee of experts too look into the delays concerning criminal trials across courts in the Indian legal system

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justices LN Rao & Vineet Saran passed the order after Senior Advocates Siddharth Luthra and R Besant (Amicus Curiae) informed Court that they have submitted draft rules on criminal practice. Bench was hearing it's suo motu case titled "In Re: To Issue Certain Guidelines Regarding Inadequacies And Deficiencies In Criminal Trials".

Luthra also informed the Court today that they had only received responses from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana High Court. "20 High Courts have chosen not to respond even after we held consultations," he added.

"We have noticed that in SLP's filed by the SCLC on behalf of the convicts, there is an inordinate delay which becomes difficult. Often, the nature of the case creates a pressure on the court to condone a delay which may be otherwise completely justified. Needless to say, the situation brings about a lack of even-handedness in dealing with matters of condonation of delay. We see no reason why these delays should continue, particularly with the availability of tools. Makhija has submitted a report in consultation with SCLC. Valuable as that report is, we consider it appropriate to constitute a committee comprising of experts who examine all suggestions and responses which may be received by it from High Courts and other stakeholders. We have also gone through the module prepared in consultation with NALSA. All HC's to submit reports to Committee thus constituted. List matter after 4 weeks."
- Supreme Court (as pronounced in open Court)

In March 2017, the Supreme Court had registered a suo motu case on the issue of "inadequacies and inefficiencies in the criminal trial" based on suggestions of Senior Advocate R. Besant.

In March 2020, the Amici submitted a report to this effect (Access Here).