New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that interim orders passed by High Courts cannot be allowed to operate indefinitely and that applications seeking their vacation must be dealt with expeditiously in accordance with Article 226(3) of the Constitution.
A Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B. Varale made the observation while disposing of a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging an interim status quo order passed by the Allahabad High Court in a writ petition.
In its order, the Justice Kumar-led Bench noted that an application seeking vacation of the interim status quo order had already been filed before the Allahabad High Court, but has remained pending since January 2025.
Taking note of the prolonged pendency, the apex court referred to the constitutional safeguard under Article 226(3), which is designed to balance the grant of interim relief with procedural fairness to the affected party.
“At this stage it would be apt and appropriate to note Sub-Article (3) of Article 226 of the Constitution of India which mandates that upon such an application being filed, the High Court would be required to dispose of the same within a period of two weeks,” the Justice Kumar-led Bench said.
Article 226(3) provides that where an interim order is passed by a High Court without hearing the opposite party, and an application is made for vacating such an order, the High Court must dispose of the application within a specified time-frame.
The provision seeks to prevent misuse of interim orders and to ensure that such reliefs do not continue indefinitely to the prejudice of the opposite party.
In its order, the Supreme Court also recorded the submissions of the advocates appearing for the parties that the matter was already listed before the Allahabad High Court on January 19, 2026.
In this backdrop, the top court declined to enter into the merits of the controversy and instead reminded the Allahabad High Court of its constitutional obligation.
“In the teeth of the said provision and also in the light of the submissions made by the learned advocates appearing for the parties that matter has been listed on 19.01.2026, we request the High Court to take up the said application and dispose of the same on its own merits,” the apex court order said.
The Justice Kumar-led Bench clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the rival claims raised by the parties.
“We make it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits of the rival submissions,” it said. Accordingly, the SLP was disposed of, along with all pending applications.
(IANS)
