Bhubaneswar: The High Court of Orissa on Sunday issued a new set of practice directions in the shape of a standing order relating to the listing of bail applications.
Pursuant to the observations made by the Supreme Court of India in an order on May 15, 2023, passed in the Pradhani Jani vs the State of Odisha (Criminal Appeal No. 1503/2023 arising out of SLP (Crl) No. 3241/2023) the new practice direction has been issued modifying paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Standing Order No. 1 of 2020.
The High Court had earlier issued Standing Order No. 1 of 2020 which provided that all the bail applications of a particular accused arising out of the same FIR would be listed before the same bench in the High Court and the practice was continuing since then.
In a recent order passed on May 15, 2023, in Pradhani Jani v. the State of Odisha (Criminal Appeal No. 1503/2023 arising out of SLP (Crl) No. 3241/2023) the Supreme Court had observed that hearing of bail applications of different accused persons arising out of the same FIR in different benches creates an anomalous situation because it so happens that while some accused to get bail orders in some benches, some do not get bail orders in similar footing though they are involved in the same case. The Supreme Court had requested the High Court of Orissa to change the practice.
Pursuant to the said observations the High Court has now modified paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of its Standing Order No. 1 of 2020 and issued Standing Order No. 2 of 2023 relating to listing of bail applications. The new standing order provides that all the anticipatory bail applications arising out of the same FIR would be heard by the same bench and if previous bail applications have been heard by different benches, the bench which first decided any of those applications would hear the subsequent bail applications. The same practice will be followed for bail applications where the accused persons are in custody.
