Matter of concern that bail pleas not heard promptly: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said it is a matter of concern that cases related to liberty are not considered by the courts promptly, despite repeated deprecation of the practice by the courts of admitting the bail applications and thereafter, unduly deferring decisions on it.

A bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Kumar expressed surprise over an order by the Chhattisgarh High Court, in which the next date of hearing in an anticipatory bail application filed by an accused in a cheating case was left to guess.

"This court held and reiterated that decisions on anticipatory bail applications / bail applications, are concerned with the liberty and therefore, shall be taken up and disposed of, expeditiously," the bench said.

The court also cited a three-judge bench order of February 21, 2022 in which delay in dealing with such bail applications was deprecated.

"In view of the recurrence of the said situation in different courts, the Registry shall send a copy of this order to the Registrar General and all concerned of all High courts so as to ensure listing of bail applications/ anticipatory bail applications at the earliest," the bench said in its order of December 11, 2023.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for a petitioner, questioned validity of the Chhattisgarh High Court's order of December 6, 2023, by which the application for anticipatory bail application was admitted for consideration but was fixed for hearing in chronological order, without notifying a date.

Agreeing to his submission, the bench said it is discernible from the High Court's order that the case was not specifically posted to any date.

"What was ordered was to list the matter in its chronological order. When the matter would be placed before the Court for further consideration, in such circumstances, is nothing but a matter of guess," the bench noted.

"We have no hesitation to hold that such an order sans definiteness in the matter relating to anticipatory bail/regular bail, that too after admitting the matter, would definitely delay due consideration of the application and such an eventuality will be detrimental to the liberty of a person," the bench said.

"It is a matter of concern that despite repeated orders, the same situation continues," the bench added.

The court granted interim protection to the petitioner and asked the High Court to decide the anticipatory bail application preferably within a period of four weeks.