The Supreme Court has defended the slow disposal of bail applications in the High Courts across the country on the grounds that since a huge number of such applications were pending before the High Courts, some amount of delay in such matters was unavoidable.
The observations were made last week by the Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal, while dismissing a petition seeking directions to the Bombay High Court to expeditiously dispose of a bail petition. The bail plea has been pending before the High Court since June.
Noting that every court in the country was already grappling with the issue of high case pendency, the Apex Court further cautioned against routinely ordering the disposal of any case in a specified time schedule.
It said that since each High Court and court in the country had a huge pendency, the Constitutional Court should avoid the temptation of fixing a time-bound schedule for disposal of any case before any Court unless the situation fell under the extraordinary category.
If there was any extraordinary urgency, the accused was always open to make a request for an expeditious hearing before the High Court itself. If the request would be genuine, the concerned Bench would entertain it, noted the Apex Court.
Petitioner/bail applicant Shaikh Uzma Hussain was represented by Advocates Sanjay Dubey, Sachin Pahwa and Rameshwar Prasad Goyal .
(Case title: Shaikh Uzma Feroz Hussain vs State of Maharashtra)