Sending bail pleas at penultimate time to partiesfrustratesvery purpose of hearing, says court

A Delhi court Wednesday came down heavily onan administrative officer of the court for sending bail applications and the replies at the penultimate time to the concerned partiesand not inadvance, saying ititfrustratesthe very purpose of hearing.

Thejudge further said thatin most of the matters which are listed for hearing through video conferencing,the applications were also being sent to the parties and the judicial officer in a dis-organised manner.

According to the directions of the district judges, since matters are being heard through video conferencing due to lockdown in the country in wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the administrative officer should send the bail application and all other documents to the concerned parties by mail or through WhatsApp.

Additional Sessions Judge Gaurav Raodirected the In-charge of the bail filing section of the Saket district court to ensure that the reports being sought from the jail, the investigating officer or an authority or department, be mailed to the concerned judicial officer as well assupplied to the concerned parties well in advance.

The judge further said that non-complianceof the directionsshall be dealt with strictly.

The observations camewhen a medical report of the accused sought from Tihar Jail Superintendent was not received for the third time.

The court washearing through video-conferencing an interim bail application offormer CMD of Religare Enterprises Ltd (REL) Sunil Godhwani, arrested inacase related to alleged misappropriation of funds at Religare Finvest Ltd (RFL), on the ground that he was suffering from sleep apnea(potentially serioussleepdisorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts).

It hadon earliersought his medical report from the jail authorities.

During the hearing, the Additional Public Prosecutorinformed that court thathe has not been supplied with the copy of the bail plea or the reply or any report.

Noreport has been received from the Jail Superintendent....This is the third time when no report has been received. During the video conferencing, inquiries were made from the bail filing section officials as well as Computer Branch officials however no satisfactory reply could be received, the court said in its order.

Further senior advocatesRebecca John, appearing for Godhwani and Mohit Mathur, appearing for Religare,saidthat non-receipts of report not only wastes the time of the court butwasalso causing harassment to their clients and all the concerned parties.

I am constrained to observe that in most of the matters which are listed for hearing through video conferencing, the bail applications and the replies are being sent at the penultimate time and not in advance which frustrates the very purpose of hearing. Further they are beingsent in adis-organisedmanner.

It is therefore directed that the In-charge bail filing section shall ensure that the reports as are being sought whether from the jail or the investigating officer or the concerned authority or departmentbe mailed to the concerned judicial officer as well as be supplied to the concerned parties well in advance.Non-compliance shall be dealt with strictly.Bail Filing section shall supply the reports as received by them after making noting regarding receiving, to the judicial officer and to the concerned parties in advance, the judge said.

The court directed that the medical reportbe mailed or supplied to the concerned parties positively on or before May 11 and listed the matter for further hearing on May 14.

It alsodirectedED's Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana, toensure thatthereport is received from the Jail Superintendent/ hospital and supplied to the parties positively by May 11.

Former Fortis Healthcare promotersMalvinderSingh and his brotherShivinder, former CEO of REL Kavi Arora and former CFO of RFL Anil Saxena were also arrested by the EconomicOffencesWing (EOW) of the Delhi policefor allegedly diverting RFL''s money and investing in other companies.

The counsel for the complainant RFL had earlier told the court that loans were disbursed to shell companies known to the promoters and the ultimate beneficiary was RHC Holding company, of whichShivinderwas a shareholder.

RFL is a group firm of REL - Religare Enterprises Ltd, which was earlier promoted byMalvinderand his brotherShivinder.

The EOW registeredanFIR in March last year after it received a complaint from RFL''s Manpreet Suri againstShivinder, Godhwani and others.

"They put RFL in a poor financial condition by disbursing loans to companies with no financial standing and controlled by them. The companies to which the loans were disbursed willfully defaulted in repayments and caused a loss to RFL to the tune of Rs 2,397 crore," the police had alleged.

ED filed a money laundering case against the accused based on the EOW case.