Supreme Court Orders High Courts to Prioritize Bail Pleas

The Supreme Court on Monday directed High Courts across the country to prioritize bail pleas, citing concerns over delays in hearing bail matters. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi observed that delays in hearing bail matters continue to remain a serious concern in several High Courts, particularly the Allahabad and Patna High Courts.

The court noted that despite judges dealing with hundreds of cases in a day, the pendency of bail applications in these courts is too large.

The Supreme Court has introduced several procedural reforms to streamline the bail application process, including directing all High Courts to ensure that bail applications are listed either on a weekly or fortnightly basis and making it mandatory for status reports to be filed before the first hearing of a bail matter.

The court also directed automatic relisting of bail applications that remain unheard and asked High Courts to prescribe an outer timeline for disposal of bail pleas. The court will monitor the implementation of these directions and review the progress made by High Courts in disposing of bail applications.