Supreme Court directs HCs to expeditiously decide bail pleas

Satya Prakash

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New Delhi, January 21

Expressing serious concern over inordinate delay in deciding bail applications by high courts, the Supreme Court hasdirected them to expedite in terms of guidelines issued by it.

A Bench led by Justice Bela M Trivedi pointed out that the top court has already issued directions on speedy delivery of verdicts/orders on bail pleas in R.C. Sharma Vs. Union of India (1976), Anil Rai Vs. State of Bihar (2001) and Satendra Kumar Antil Vs. CBI and Another(2022).

“Despite the aforestated guidelines/directions having been issued by this Court from time to time, it appears that the cases like the present one, keep on happening and the bail applications are not being heard expeditiously and if heard, are not being decided within the stipulated time period,” said the Bench – which also included Justice SC Sharma.

“In view of the above, it is directed that all the courts shall scrupulously follow the directions/ guidelines issued by this Court in the aforestated decisions,” the top court said in its January 17 order.

The Bench, however, left it to the High Courts to evolve a system/mechanism to check and verify at the end of each month, the pendency of cases reserved for judgments and orders in each court.

The Bench had taken up the matter after it was brought to its notice that Justice Sandeep Kumar of the Patna High Court heard an anticipatory bail application filed by one Rajanti Devi in a 2017 money laundering case and reserved his orders on April 7, 2022 and released it on April 4, 2023, almost after one year.

“We are extremely surprised as to how the order on the petition seeking anticipatory bail could be kept pending for one year,” the top court had earlier said and sought a report from the Registrar General of the Patna High Court who confirmed the allegations regarding the delay.

“Though, we are very much alive about the magnitude of the bail applications being filed and heard by the Courts at all levels, we cannot be oblivious to the delay which takes place in the disposal of the Bail applications,” the top court noted.