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The bench made the observations when the APP, who represented the State, appeared without having a copy of the case diary/chargesheet during the hearing in a bail petition. On the earlier date of hearing, Court had specifically said that the bail petition required perusal of the case diary.
The Patna High Court recently came down heavily on State Government Counsel for not having a copy of the case diary/charge sheet with him during the hearing in a bail petition.
The High Court said that the Additional Public Prosecutor was “totally handicapped” to represent the state. To tackle the issue, the bench has suggested to introduce an internal system to ensure that the case diaries/charge sheets are available to the State Counsel.
Moreover, the single judge bench of Justice Jitendra Kumar said that sometimes lawyers are not available in court as they are busy in other courts.
The observations were made during the hearing in a bail application, wherein, on the earlier hearing, the High Court had said that the bail petition requires perusal of the case diary and therefore, the case diary was called for from the court below and same had been received.
However, the APP, who represented the State in the hearing, appeared without having a copy of the case diary/charge sheet.
"He is totally handicapped to represent the case of the State and effectively assist the Court," the bench noted.
According to sources, the APP, appearing without the case diary/ chargesheet, then asked the judge to give his copy so that he could assist the court.
To which the Judge said, "I'm an umpire, how is it going to work if I will work like this?"
The bench opined, "Needless to say that such situation not only causes delay in disposal of the case, but also deprives the Court of knowing the best prosecution case, which may result into miscarriage of justice."
Further, the court raised the need to introduce an internal system of the prosecution to ensure that the case diaries/charge sheets are available to the State Counsel at the time of hearing of the bail petitions.
To achieve the same, the bench suggested that immediately after getting information of filing of any bail petition, the State Counsel, through the AG office, may inform the concerned SSP/SP through telephone, e-mail, or letter, for the supply of a copy of the case-diary/ charge-sheet for effective representation of the State in Court. After such information of requisition from State Counsel, SSP/SP concerned may be saddled with the duty to ensure that case diaries/charge sheets are made available to the concerned State counsel at the time of hearing in the Court.
Furthermore, on the issue of non-availability of government counsel on certain dates, the bench opined that there should be Standing State Counsel for each Court separately so that they are prepared with the brief of their case for making an effective representation of the State.
In furtherance of this, the bench directed the Registrar General to send a copy of the above-mentioned order to the Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar, Patna, and the Director General of Police, Government of Bihar, Patna for information and to take needful steps, like, directing the concerned SSP/SP to ensure that case-diary/ charge-sheet is made available to the State counsel after getting requisition from them and said there should be a provision of Standing Counsel for each Court to represent the State.
The bench passed the above-mentioned observations with the intent to increase the disposal rate of the cases.
Case Title: Manu Kumar @ Abhimanu Kumar Vs The State of Bihar
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