New Delhi, May 10 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Bihar government for framing guidelines similar to those adopted by the Delhi police in the cases of arrest in offences entailing punishment of less than seven years sentence as contemplated under section 41A of CrPC and laid down in earlier verdicts to reduce pendency.

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath took note of an affidavit filed by Patna High Court in which it said that suggestions of advocate Shoeb Alam on compliance of Lalita Kumari and Arnesh Kumar judgements (both 2014 verdicts) of the top court to facilitate the reduction in the filing of fresh bail applications before the High Court may be implemented by the state government.

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The Patna High Court in its affidavit said, “It is humbly submitted that suggestion may be implemented by the state government. It is humbly submitted that the Delhi High Court in the judgement dated February 7, 2018, in wp…has laid down detailed procedure for effective implementation of section 41 CrPC which may also be considered by the state government”.

It said, “The state of Bihar may also consider framing similar guidelines as has been framed by Delhi police with appropriate modifications”.

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Section 41A CrPC deals with notice of appearance before a police officer and its sub-section 3 says “where such person complies and continues to comply with the notice, he shall not be arrested in respect of the offence referred to in the notice unless, for reasons to be recorded, the police officer is of the opinion that he ought to be arrested”.

The bench was hearing a petition relating to the delayed listing of a bail application in the Patna High Court and had earlier asked the High Court to consider the feasibility of implementing the suggestions made in this regard.

The top court had earlier asked Alam and other advocates appearing in the matter for detailed suggestions to tackle the problem of delayed listing and huge pendency of bail applications in the Patna High Court.

Alam, has suggested that there is an urgent need for compliance with Lalita Kumari guidelines laid down by the top court more specifically the compliance with the requirement of conducting preliminary inquiry in cases of matrimonial disputes, family disputes, commercial offences, medical negligence cases, corruption cases saying this will result in a general reduction in the number of FIRs.

The High Court further said in its affidavit, “The suggestion of advocate Shoeb Alam regarding the constitution of District Level Committee to monitor compliance of section 41A CrPC would also be helpful. Such a committee may be constituted under the chairmanship of District and Sessions Judge with the superintendent of Police as a member and, secretary, DLSA may be the other member of the committee and the committee must hold monthly meetings to review the compliance”.

Dealing with the suggestion for designated courts for prohibition matters, the High Court said that it is listing all the matters arising out of the same FIR before one bench.

“Regarding constitution of the designated benches for hearing Excise cases, it can be considered in a phase-wise manner”, the High Court said in its affidavit filed through advocate Gaurav Agrawal.

The High Court further said, “Under the recently notified Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022, there is a provision for the first-time offenders to be released by the order of the special magistrate after depositing a fine. In case the offender is not able to deposit the fine, he/she will be liable to face one month of simple imprisonment. This provision may bring about a general reduction in the bail applications arising out of the Excise Act”.

Regarding designated courts for offences where the maximum sentence is seven years or less, the High Court said that at present bail applications are being listed in chronological order and parties are at liberty to mention the matter before the court, where the bail applications are listed for out of turn hearing.

“Some changes in software would be needed for an out-of-turn listing of such cases. The Patna High Court has requested the e-committee for the Supreme Court for some changes in the e-filing portal”, it said.

On March 10, the top court had expressed concern over the delay in the disposal of bail matters in the Patna High Court and suggested that having designated benches to hear cases arising out of Bihar prohibition law will help in bringing consistency of relief and efficient disposal of matters.

It had asked Agrawal representing the High Court, to forward the suggestions to the High Court for consideration.

Alam had pointed out that the suggestions made in the note are based on CrPC provisions and on Supreme Court judgments and provisions of CrPC and Judgments regarding arrest need to be implemented across the country to help in reduction in pendency of bail applications.

The top court had said that it would apply the suggestions in Bihar on a pilot basis and see what the result could be and if necessary directions would be passed for compliance pan-India.

The Patna High Court had earlier told the top court that there is a “phenomenal increase” in the filing of bail applications due to the enforcement of prohibition in the state and roughly 25 per cent of regular bail pleas are being filed under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act alone.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)