Gayatri Kasibhatta | Social ThikanaWhile granting bail to an accused under The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, the Andhra Pradesh High Court took serious note of the significant delay in issuing the certified copies of the orders. This Court observed that despite the conscious recognition of several pending cases, it is difficult to issue the order copies within a short period due to staff shortage. Hence, the Court issued 9-point guidelines as under:
a. Parties/Advocates shall download the order copy from the High Court's Website along with case details which are available in the case status information.
b. While filing the memo on behalf of the accused of furnishing sureties, the Advocate shall State in the memo that he/she has downloaded the order the order copy from the High Court's Website. The concerned Administrative Officer / Chief Ministerial Officer of the Court shall verify the order from the High Court's website and make an endorsement to that effort and then shall place the same before the Court.
c. The Public Prosecutor shall also obtain necessary instructions in this regard and assist the Court.
d. The Presiding Officer on the same day shall dispose of the same and dispatch the release order to the concerned jail authorities forthwith through e-mail or nay other electronic media.
e. In cases of anticipatory bail, the burden to verify the authenticity of the copy is on the concerned Station House Officer, and if necessary, he should obtain necessary instructions from the Public Prosecutor's Office and complete the process on the same day expeditiously as per law.
f. Registrar (Judicial) shall communicate a copy of this order to
(1) The Principal Secretary for Home Affairs, Andhra Pradesh;
(2) The Director-General of Police, Andhra Pradesh;
(3) The Director of Prosecution, who in turn shall sensitize the Police Officers / Station House Officers / Public Prosecutors and ensure implementation of this order.
g. Registrar (Judicial) shall communicate a copy of this order to all the Principal District Judges in the State, who in turn shall sensitize all the Presiding Officers and ensure implementation of this order.
h. Registrar (Judicial) is further directed to circulate the copy of this order to all the Bar Associations in the State through the Principal District Judges so that they can effectively address their clients' cause.
i. Registrar (Judicial) shall also issue a separate notification in this regard, and the same shall be displayed on the High Court's Website. It further directed that in case of anticipatory bails, the Police Officials shall bring to the notice of the Public Prosecutor, the High Court, about the difficulties in implementing the orders of this Court. Furthermore, the Court directed the Public Prosecutor to place the same before this Court by the next hearing date.