The Supreme Court on Monday gave strict instructions that the High Courts are setting time limits for lower courts to hear cases speedily and it is not right to deny bail solely on this ground.
The court said this was against the apex court’s decision as fixing such a time period should be decided only in exceptional cases.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the high court’s refusal to grant bail for speedy disposal of cases and early trial was against the decisions of the Constitution Bench of the apex court.
According to Bar and Bench, the bench said, “Despite the declaration of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, we have observed that many High Courts, while rejecting bail, are fixing time for early hearing of the cases.
It cannot be done and bail should not be denied only on the ground that the trial will be disposed of expeditiously. Such limitation of the trial period should be done only in very exceptional cases.”
It is noteworthy that in February, the Constitution Bench headed by Justice Oka had said in its decision that the courts should avoid fixing time-bound schedules for cases pending in any other court.
Justice Oka’s bench had in February reiterated that high courts are also constitutional courts and cannot be treated as subordinate to the Supreme Court.
In August, another bench had also said that it cannot force high courts to hear cases in a time-bound manner.
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