Supreme Court surprised after Patna High Court sets deadline for Bihar court to complete trial

The Supreme Court on Monday was surprised to find that the Patna High Court had set a one-year deadline for a trial court in Bihar to conclude the trial in a criminal case [Santosh Kumar @ Santosh v. State of Bihar]..A Division Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih observed that the High Court had passed such a directive without being mindful of the huge case pendency faced by trial courts. "The High Courts are issuing such directions without even considering that every criminal Court in the State of Bihar will have huge pendency," the Court's July 22 order stated.The Bench added that such a direction went against the Supreme Court's ruling in High Court Bar Association, Allahabad vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others (2024), wherein it was held that constitutional courts should avoid imposing time schedules for the disposal of cases in other courts..The Court was hearing an appeal challenging the Patna High Court's February 2024 decision to reject the bail plea of a man arrested in a cheating case in 2023. While rejecting the bail plea, the High Court had also ordered that the criminal trial against the accused man be completed within a year. The High Court further granted liberty to the accused to renew his bail plea if the trial is not completed by then.Aggrieved by such rejection of the bail plea, the accused man approached the Supreme Court for relief. .The Supreme Court observed that the trial was likely to take a long time to conclude and eventually granted the accused man bail, since he had been in jail since August 2023. Among other factors, the top court also noted that the accused had already been granted bail in other cases that were cited as "criminal antecedents" to oppose bail. "A case is made out for enlarging the appellant on bail, pending trial. For that purpose, the appellant shall be produced before the Trial Court within a maximum period of one week from today. The Trial Court shall enlarge the appellant on bail on appropriate terms and conditions, pending trial," the Court ordered, while allowing the bail plea. .[Read Order]