SC Upholds Personal Liberty in Deciding Bail Plea

New Delhi: Underscoring the critical nature of personal liberty, the Supreme Court expressed disappointment on Friday at the Delhi High Court for keeping the bail application of a petitioner pending for nearly 11 months. The apex court urged the Delhi High Court to decide on the regular bail plea of the accused businessman before the start of the summer vacation.

The Supreme Court's remarks came during the hearing of a petition filed by Amandeep Singh Dhall, an accused in the Delhi excise policy corruption case.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Dhall, informed a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta that the petitioner's regular bail application had been heard by the High Court on 40 occasions and was adjourned to July 8.

"This cannot be the case that after 40 hearings, you don't decide the regular bail," Sibal asserted.

The bench noted that the regular bail plea was filed in July last year.

The apex court stated, "In matters concerning the liberty of citizens, every single day counts. Keeping the matter of regular bail pending for almost 11 months deprives the petitioner of his liberty."

"We request the High Court to decide the bail application before the commencement of the summer vacations," the Supreme Court said.

Summer vacations in the High Court are scheduled to begin on June 3, with May 31 being the last working day.

Dhall is accused in separate cases related to the excise policy “scam,” being probed by both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. The ED's money laundering case is linked to the CBI FIR.

Earlier, a trial court had dismissed his regular bail plea in the corruption case registered by the CBI.

According to the probe agencies, Dhall allegedly conspired with other accused and played an "active" role in formulating the liquor policy, facilitating kickbacks to the Aam Aadmi Party, and its subsequent recoupment by the "South Group" through various means.

Irregularities were allegedly committed during the modification of the excise policy and undue favours were extended to licence holders.

The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021, and revoked it at the end of September 2022 amid corruption allegations.