In Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 587/2023 -SC- Supreme Court declines to expedite bail hearing, says no time-bound schedules for case disposal unless extraordinary circumstances exist
Justice Abhay S. Oka & Justice Pankaj Mithal [10-11-2023]

Read Order: Shaikh Uzma Feroz Hussain V. The State of Maharashtra

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, November 16, 2023: The Supreme Court has declined to interfere in a petition seeking to expedite the disposal of a bail application filed in the Bombay High Court.

The petitioner, Shaikh Uzma Feroz Hussain, had been arrested and had filed a bail application in the High Court. However, the application had not been taken up for hearing. The petitioner approached the Supreme Court seeking an order directing the Bombay High Court to decide the bail application within a time-bound manner.

The division bench, comprising of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka, observed that there was a large number of bail petitions filed in every High Court, especially the bigger ones, and some delay in their disposal was ‘inevitable’.

The bench also noted that if there was an extraordinary urgency, the petitioner can always move the concerned bench of the High Court, and that the bench will entertain the request if it is genuine.

“Since every High Court and every Court in the country has a huge pendency, the Constitutional Court should avoid temptation of fixing a time-bound schedule for disposal of any case before any Court unless the situation is extra ordinary,” said the division bench.

With the above observations, the present petition was dismissed.