The Supreme Court on Friday took a serious view of inordinate delay in the release of prisoners after they were granted bail by the court.

It said it would set up a “secure, credible and authentic channel” for transmission of the orders for execution, saying in the digital age, “we are still looking at the skies for the pigeons to communicate the orders”.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana-led Bench was irked by the increasing number of reports regarding the delay in implementation of the orders passed by the top court and had recently taken suo motu cognisance of news reports of delay by Uttar Pradesh authorities in releasing 13 prisoners who were granted bail by it on July 8.

The 13 juvenile convicts at the time of offence were lodged in Agra Central Jail for periods ranging from around 14 to 22 years for murder.

The Special Bench, also comprising justices L Nageswara Rao and A S Bopanna, sought a proposal from the secretary general of the apex court within two weeks on implementing a scheme aimed at revolutionising transmission of court orders to all concerned in a “fast and secure manner”.

“I am directing secretary general of the Supreme Court to place a report in two weeks time so we’ll try to implement the scheme in a month,” the CJI observed.

In a hearing conducted through video-conferencing, the Bench also directed all the States to respond on the availability of internet connection in jails across the nation as without this facility transmission of such orders to prisons will not be possible.

As soon as the Bench took up the case, it referred to the delay in the release of 13 prisoners from Agra jail despite the apex court granting bail to them saying “this is the situation and this is too much”. 

“This court has passed orders releasing prisoners but they were not released saying they haven’t received copies of orders. This is too much,” it said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta flagged the instances where some accused have been attempting to fudge court orders and said the jail authorities should act upon the orders once they are uploaded on the official website of the court.

“We are in the age of information and communication technology and we are still looking at the skies for the pigeons to communicate the orders,” the CJI observed.