HC seeks Delhi govt reply on verification of sureties for bail

The Delhi High Court today sought the city government's response on a plea initiated by it that there was an inordinate delay in verification of sureties resulting in late release of prisoners from jail.
Taking suo motu cognisance of a letter written by a trial court judge, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw asked Delhi government to file reply within two weeks.
Special CBI judge L K Gaur, inspecting judge of jail no. 5 Tihar, stated in a letter to the Registrar of Delhi High Court that over a period of time he has experienced that there was inordinate delay in the verification of sureties resulting in the late release of prisoners from jail.

Zubeda Begum, standing counsel for the Delhi government, sought time to take instruction on the issue.
The judge in his letter said that he is of the view that there is need for not only laying down some guidelines for verification of sureties but also creating some kind of monitoring mechanism which may expedite the process of verification of sureties.
He has requested for taking an appropriate action.

"In number of cases, he had written letters to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate/Superintendent of Police of different districts in the country for expediting the process of verification of sureties on receipt of such complaints from inmates," he said.

The letter further stated that "on one such complaint, he (judge Gaur) had passed an order observing interalia that the process of verification sureties is very slow and it results in undue delay in the release of prisoners from jail".
"He had suggested that some steps may be taken at the level of DG (prisons), to not only standardise the process of verification of sureties but to also create some agencies or cell within its office itself which may follow up the verifications which are sent to different superintendents of police of different districts in the country, in order to ensure that the verifications are received without any undue delay instead of his intervention in such matters," it said.