Should Successive Bail Applications Be Listed Before The Same Judge Or Roster Bench? Madras High Court Refers Issue To Larger Bench

The Petitioner had filed a second bail Application under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) after his first Application was dismissed by Justice C.V. Karthikeyan. The Petitioner argued that due to the roster system followed by the High Court, successive bail applications in the same FIR were being listed before the roster Judges, even if the bail applications of some of the other accused were dismissed by another Judge earlier.

A Single Bench of Justice Sunder Mohan remarked, “ Hitherto, this Court has been following a procedure by which if a bail petition/anticipatory bail petition of an accused was dismissed by a particular Judge, the successive bail petition/anticipatory bail petition would be listed before the same learned Judge following the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. But since a roster system was followed by this Court, the bail applications of the accused in the same FIR were listed before the roster Judge, even if the bail applications of some of the other accused were dismissed by another Judge earlier.”

Advocate T Balachandran represented the Petitioner, while Additional Public Prosecutor E Raj Thilak appeared for the Respondent.

Brief Facts

The Court referred to the decision in Shekhar Prasad Mahto @ Shekhar Kushwaha v. The Registrar General, Jharkhand High Court wherein the Supreme Court clarified that its previous directive requiring bail applications arising from the same FIR to be placed before the same judge would not apply in cases where roster changes prevented the earlier judge from handling bail matters.

The Supreme Court further clarified, "If in a particular High Court, the bail applications are assigned to different Single Judges/Benches, then all applications arising out of the same FIR should be placed before one learned judge to maintain consistency in rulings. However, if due to a roster change, the judge who earlier handled bail matters is no longer assigned such cases, this direction will not apply."

However, pursuant to the clarification in Shekhar Prasad Mahto's case (supra), two Judges of the Madras High Court dismissed the bail applications of a particular accused and the second bail petition was filed and pending consideration before them and directed the Registry to list those Petitions before the roster Judge concerned.

Court’s Reasoning

The High Court remarked, “However, the directions that if a bail application is dismissed by a Judge, the second bail application should be listed before the same Judge, were not modified or altered. Therefore, this Court is of the view that the clarifications of the Hon'ble Supreme Court cannot be understood as one intended to clarify the well-settled directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court with regard to the disposal of successive bail petitions.”

The Court expressed respectful disagreement with recent orders of the two Judges who had directed listing of such Applications before the roster Judge instead of the original Judge who passed the first order.

Consequently, the Court referred the following question for determination by a larger Bench: “Whether the clarification issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Shekhar Prasad Mahto @ Shekhar Kushwaha v. The Registrar General, Jharkhand High Court [WP(Crl.) No.55 of 2025, decided on 07.02.2025], is only with regard to the listing of the applications filed by the accused in the same FIR or is also with regard to the listing of successive bail applications of an accused before the roster Judge, even if the Judge who dealt with the earlier application for bail/anticipatory bail is available?”

Cause Title: Y.Babu v. The Inspector of Police (Crl OP No.31787 of 2024)

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