No condition shall be imposed while granting statutory Bail, a single bench of Gujarat High Court held while granting bail to an accused allegedly involved in offences under the GST Act..
The ratio was laid while hearing the petition filed on behalf of Mr.Neeraj Ramkumar Tiwari, challenging the order of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Vadodara , whereby, the petitioner was granted statutory bail under Sec.167(2) of Criminal Procedure Code, subject to a condition to deposit an amount of 50% of the total amount of Rs.9,43,50, 223/-, which was alleged to be defaulted on the part of the Petitioner by the Office of the Commissioner, Central, GST, Vadodara-II. The challenge was substantiated by citing the ruling of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Saravanan Vs. State represented by the Inspector of Police, (2020) 9 SCC 101.
Upon considering the facts, Justice A.Y.Goyjein express terms, held that the question as to whether a condition can be imposed while granting statutory bail had been invariably held by the Supreme Court in Sravanan’s case(supra). The relevant extract from the judgment in Sravanan’s case reads thus:
“ …. as observed by this Court in catena of decisions and more particularly in the case of Rakesh Kumar Paul (supra), where the investigation is not completed within 60 days or 90 days, as the case may be, and no charge sheet is filed by 60 th or 90th day, accused gets an “indefeasible right” to default bail, and the accused becomes entitled to default bail once the accused applies for default bail and furnish bail. Therefore, the only requirement for getting the default bail/statutory bail under Section 167(2), Cr.P.C. is that the accused is in jail for more than 60 or 90 days, as the case may be, and within 60 or 90 days, as the case may be, the investigation is not completed and no chargesheet is filed by 60th or 90th day and the accused applies for default bail and is prepared to furnish bail. No other condition of deposit of the alleged amount involved can be imposed. Imposing such condition while releasing the accused on default bail/statutory bail would frustrate the very object and purpose of default bail under Section 167(2) Cr.P.C.”
Hence considering the said ruling and the language of Sec.167(2) of Criminal Procedure Code, if any condition is imposed while granting statutory bail, it is to be treated beyond the jurisdiction of the Court concerned while exercising powers to grant default /statutory bail under Section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code- the Court held.
Consequently, the impugned order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Vadodara was quashed.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the Judgment
Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. We welcome your comments at info@taxscan.in
