The year 2025 saw the Supreme Court ‘clarify’, ‘modify’ and ‘recall’ its decisions in a variety of issues ranging from stray dogs to retrospective environmental clearances to pollution norms in response to either public furore or on the urging of authorities.
The past months even witnessed the court answer a Presidential Reference against the basic grain of its own judgment pronounced in the Tamil Nadu Governor case.
The shifting of positions on cardinal issues occurred during a year in which the nation saw three Chief Justices of India, even as the pendency climbed steadily, and is perched at an all-time high of 92,118 on December 31, 2025.
When asked once whether the Supreme Court itself was contributing to its already heavy burden of pendency by time and again reviewing its own decisions, Chief Justice Surya Kant brushed off the question by pointing to instances in which the court had re-examined judgments as old as 30 years.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice has assured the court would convene even in the “middle of the night" for the cause of justice. Vacation Benches assembled thrice during the winter vacations to hear urgent cases, one of them being a suo motu matter to stay its own judgment in the Aravalli case.
