Madras High Court Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi constituted a Division Bench to answer a reference as to whether the Supreme Court’s order on extension of limitation period in view of COVID-19 lockdown would be applicable to Section 167 of the Cr.P.C. (dealing with police investigation and filing of report), after two judges of the High Court took different views.
Justice G.R. Swaminathan observed that the SC order on extension of limitation period did not deal with Section 167 of the Cr.P.C. The Judge, while granting bail to an accused after the police had failed to submit the final report within the mandatory time limit, said the SC had not mentioned that police investigation would be covered by the order.
Justice G. Jayachandran, however, observed that though the SC order had not specifically mentioned police investigation, it had invoked its power under Article 142 of the Constitution in view of the lockdown. He dismissed the bail plea of an accused, and said the limitation under Section 167 of the Cr.P.C. also got extended.
The Chief Justice said the applicability of the SC order had to be considered in the light of the fact that Section 167 of the Cr.P.C. appeared to only set out the outer limit of the detaining power of the Magistrate without charge and thus was an embargo on the period of detention of an accused. The investigation could still continue unhindered.
There was no express provision so as to condone delay in the Cr.P.C., except the provisions of Section 468 to Section 473. The two conflicting opinions arising out of the orders were likely to have a direct impact on bail orders to be passed by the subordinate judiciary or by the High Court. The matter deserved to be resolved by an authoritative pronouncement, he said.
This question would be answered by a Division Bench presided over by Justice P.N. Prakash at Madurai Bench itself, the Chief Justice said.