Coordinate Bench Can Cancel Bail Granted By Another Bench : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently stated that a coordinate bench of the High Court can cancel the bail granted by another bench to an accused if the same has been secured by placing wrong facts.

In this case, the Allahabad High Court was dealing with the bail application of an accused, Suraj Mahananda, against whom the allegations are under Sections 21(c) (Punishment for contravention in relation to manufactured drugs and preparations) and 29(Punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The accused sought bail on parity with the co-accused, Babu Chatterjee, who was granted bail by a coordinate bench of the High Court.

In considering the application, the High Court was informed that Babu misrepresented the facts by stating that almost 25 witnesses were to be examined, whereas only 13 were left to be examined. Despite the information, the High Court didn't consider an application for the cancellation of his bail, stating a coordinate bench can't cancel the bail granted by another bench. Nevertheless, it denied bail to Suraj.

When Suraj filed a special leave petition before the Supreme Court challenging the denial of bail, a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan questioned why the High Court couldn't cancel the bail of Babu. However, it didn't cancel Babu's bail.

"We fail to understand why the High Court says that a coordinate Bench cannot cancel the bail granted to an 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."

But considering that Suraj has spent more than 1 year and 10 months in custody and only 1 witness has been examined, it granted him bail. The Court also directed the Trial Court to expedite the trial.

Case Details: SURAJ MAHANANDA v. STATE OF WEST BENGAL|Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s).9148-9149/2026

Citation : 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 586

Click Here To Read Order

Appearances:For Petitioner(s) :Mr. Sukesh Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Toslim Ali, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Singh, Adv. Ms. Sadhana Sandhu, AOR

For Respondent(s) :Mr. Parag Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Kunal Mimani, AOR