2026:UHC:3099 SL. No. Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS C528 No.778 of 2026 Hon’ble Alok Mahra, J. Mr. Mohit Pandey and Mr. Harshit Bhatt, Advocates for the applicant. Mr. S.C. Dumka, A.G.A. for the State of Uttarakhand. Mr. Sudhir Kumar, Advocate for respondent no.3. 2. On the previous date, learned counsel for the applicant submitted that, due to inadvertence, the name of Ms. Jyoti Singh could not be arrayed as a party respondent, and an oral prayer was made seeking her impleadment. 3. Today, an amended memo of parties has been filed in Court, which is taken on record. Consequently, Ms. Jyoti Singh is impleaded as respondent no.3. 4. By means of the present Criminal Miscellaneous Application, the applicant seeks issuance of a direction to the Court of learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Haldwani, District Nainital, for expeditious disposal of Criminal Appeal No.23 of 2024 and Criminal Appeal No.43 of 2024. 5. Learned counsel for the applicant submits that an F.I.R. was lodged at the instance of respondent no.2, pursuant to which the matter was investigated and a charge-sheet came to be filed against the applicant as well as respondent no.3. Upon conclusion of the trial, both the applicant and respondent no.3 were acquitted of the charges levelled against them vide judgment and order dated 06.03.2024. Aggrieved thereby, respondent no.2, being the complainant, as well as the State, preferred Criminal Appeal No.23 of 2024 and Criminal Appeal No.43 of 2024, respectively, challenging the judgment of acquittal. 6. It is further submitted that arguments in the aforesaid appeals were heard at length and 2026:UHC:3099 judgment was reserved vide order dated 14.01.2025; however, subsequently, the matter was directed to be listed for further arguments. It is contended that since then, the proceedings have been unduly protracted on one pretext or another, causing serious prejudice to the applicant. Accordingly, it is prayed that a suitable direction be issued to the Court concerned to expedite the hearing and conclude the proceedings within a stipulated time frame. 7. Having considered the submissions advanced by learned counsel for the applicant and upon perusal of the material available on record, this Court is of the view that the grievance raised by the applicant warrants consideration to the limited extent of ensuring expeditious disposal of the pending appeals. 8. Accordingly, in the facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the controversy, the present application is disposed of with a direction to the learned First Additional Sessions Judge, Haldwani, District Nainital, to make all endeavours to hear and decide Criminal Appeal No.23 of 2024 and Criminal Appeal No.43 of 2024, strictly in accordance with law, as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of three months’ from the date of production of a certified copy of this order. It is further directed that the Court concerned shall not grant unnecessary adjournments to either of the parties. The parties are also directed to extend full cooperation in early disposal of the appeals. (Alok Mahra, J.) 24.04.2026 Arpan ARPAN JAISWAL Digitally signed by ARPAN JAISWAL DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=eabb68a3895e41937c266c23964c0485365445e3a20dddb73933 98f9fe45ba3e, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=060FC17022BEAE3DE215D68D9D454C5109CB987446351E 4DF04AADAA2C2CEA66, cn=ARPAN JAISWAL Date: 2026.04.24 17:11:01 +05'30'