The Supreme Court has observed that a coordinate bench of a High Court is not barred from cancelling bail granted by another coordinate bench if the accused secured the relief by placing incorrect or misleading facts before the court.

The observation came while the Court was hearing a special leave petition filed by Suraj Mahananda, who sought bail in a case registered under Sections 21(c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

Mahananda had sought bail on the ground of parity with co-accused Babu Chatterjee, who had earlier been granted bail by a coordinate bench of the Allahabad High Court. During the proceedings, it was brought to the High Court's notice that Chatterjee had allegedly obtained bail by misrepresenting the status of the trial. While he claimed that around 25 witnesses remained to be examined, in reality only 13 witnesses were left.

Despite being informed of the alleged misrepresentation, the High Court declined to consider cancellation of Chatterjee's bail, observing that a coordinate bench could not cancel bail granted by another bench. At the same time, it rejected Mahananda's plea for bail.

Challenging the denial of bail, Mahananda approached the Supreme Court.

A Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan expressed disagreement with the High Court's view and clarified that courts are empowered to revisit such orders where bail has been secured on the basis of incorrect facts.

“We fail to understand why the High Court says that a coordinate Bench cannot cancel the bail granted to a co-accused. If the bail has been obtained by placing wrong facts before the High Court, the Court can always look into the matter and pass an appropriate order.”

While the Supreme Court did not cancel Chatterjee's bail, it granted bail to Mahananda, noting that he had already spent more than one year and ten months in custody and that only one witness had been examined during the trial so far.

The Court also directed the trial court to expedite the proceedings.

Case: Suraj Mahananda v. State of West Bengal