CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ruled that successive bail and anticipatory bail applications arising out of the same FIR or crime number shall be heard by the judge holding the roster for such matter and not by the judges who had heard the matter already.
The ruling was given by a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar recently while answering a reference made by a single judge on the issue.
“All bail/anticipatory bail applications arising out of the same FIR/crime number shall be listed before the same judge holding roster. Currently, in the High Court no such difficulty exists, as one judge at the principal seat and another at the Madurai bench are holding roster to hear bail/anticipatory bail pleas,” the bench said.
It further said that upon a change of roster, successive bail/anticipatory bail applications, including consequential connected petitions, if any, shall be listed before the judge holding the roster.
The roster judge may give weightage to the views expressed by the predecessor judge while dealing with the bail/anticipatory bail applications; and if differing views are taken, the reasons for such view may be recorded.
The reference was made by Justice Sunder Mohan noting that the clarification issued by the Supreme Court, in the case of Shekhar Prasad Mahato Vs Registrar General, was that where the roster system is followed, the applications for bail by the accused in a same FIR have to be placed before the roster judge. But the apex court’s clarification was with respect to listing of bail applications in the same FIR and not about the successive bail applications by the same accused persons.