Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2022 Supreme(SC) 1631

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Ajay Rastogi, B.V. Nagarathna, JJ.
Tulsi Ram Sahu – Appellant
Versus
The State of Chhattisgarh – Respondent
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 2564 of 2022 (Arising Out of Impugned Judgment and Order Dated 03-03-2022 in IA No. 1 of 2022 in Mcrca No. 258 of 2022 Passed by the High Court of Chhatisgarh at Bilaspur)
Decided On : 08-09-2022

Advocates appeared:
Ms. Sangita Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Manish Kumar Gupta, Advocate, For the Appellant / Mr. Vishal Prasad, Advocate, Ms. Ritika Sethi, Advocate, For the Respondent.

The need for expeditious disposal of bail applications and disapproval of the practice of dismissing interim relief.

Headnote:
Interim Relief - Anticipatory Bail - Section 438, Section 439 - The court disapproved the practice of dismissing interim relief and posting the matter for hearing in due course, emphasizing the need for expeditious disposal of bail applications. The petition became infructuous as anticipatory bail was granted to the petitioner.
Fact of the Case:

The petitioner filed a petition challenging the order of the High Court which dismissed the interim relief sought for anticipatory bail and posted the matter for final hearing.
Finding of the Court:

The Court disapproved the practice of dismissing interim relief and emphasized the need for expeditious disposal of bail applications. The petition became infructuous as anticipatory bail was granted to the petitioner.
Issues: Refusal of interim relief, expeditious disposal of bail applications
Ratio Decidendi: The Court disapproved the practice of dismissing interim relief and emphasized the need for expeditious disposal of bail applications.
Final Decision: The special leave petition became infructuous and was accordingly dismissed. The High Court of Chhattisgarh was directed to take appropriate steps.

ORDER

1. The present petition came to be filed assailing the order dated 03.03.2022 where the High Court while dealing with an application seeking anticipatory bail dismissed the interim relief prayed for by the petitioner and while admitting the bail petition posted the matter for final hearing in due course. The order dated 03.03.2022 is extracted hereunder:

'Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, I am not inclined to grant ad-interim bail to the applicant.

Accordingly, I.A. No. 01/2022 is dismissed.

Heard.

Admit.

Call for the records.

State counsel is directed to obtain criminal antecedent of the applicant.

Post the matter for final hearing in due course.

Sd/-

(Deepak Kumar Tiwari)

Judge'

2. Ordinarily, this Court where there is refusal to grant interim relief is not inclined to interfere but this is somewhat peculiar facts brought to the notice of this Court where the applicant who approached for seeking anticipatory bail the learned Judge of the High Court while admitting the bail petition dismissed the interim relief and posted the matter for hearing in due course.

3. This is an unusual practice and which this Court has never come across. Earlier also, this practice being followed in the High Court of Chhattisgarh was deprecated by this Court in SLP(Crl.) No. 1247/2022 dated 21.02.2022.

4. We also disapprove such practice and request the Chief Justice of the High Court to take a judicial note and at least the bail applications whether it is pre-arrest bail or post-arrest bail (under Section 438 or 439 of the Code) must be decided as expeditiously as possible. Although we are not supposed to give any guidelines for the disposal of the bail applications but at the same time we always expect that bail applications must be decided as expeditiously as possible and not to be posted in due course of time.

5. It is informed to this Court by the learned counsel for the petitioner that after the interim order was passed by this Court in the present petition, the anticipatory bail has been granted to the petitioner.

6. In substratum, the instant special leave petition becomes infructuous, which is accordingly dismissed.

7. Let a copy of this order be sent to the High Court of Chhattisgarh for taking appropriate steps.

8. Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of accordingly.

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