Uttam Palata And ORS v. State Of West Bengal

CRR 717 of 2022 Court No.

Item 46 tbsr In the matter of:- Uttam Palata & Ors.

11.03.

Mr. A. Mukherjee Mr. Debarshi Brahma .....for the petitioners Ms. Manisha Sharma .....for the State This is an application seeking an expeditious disposal of a proceeding in which a charge-sheet was submitted under Section 20(b) of the NDPS Act. Let a copy of this application be served upon Ms. Manisha Sharma, learned counsel, who is present in court today and who ordinarily appears on behalf of the State. Her engagement may be regularised in due course by the competent authority of the State.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners submits as follows. The petitioners are the accused in this case. They are in custody since 23.12.2020, the date on which the FIR was lodged. A charge sheet was submitted in May, 2021. The prosecution intends to examine 17 witnesses in this case. Charges were framed on 15.09.2021. Yet, till date not a single witness could be examined in this case. The matter has remained pending for no fault of the present petitioners.

Learned counsel for the State submits that the

State would not come in the way if a direction is passed to expedite the trial.

I have heard submissions of the learned counsels appearing on behalf of the petitioners and the State and have perused the revision petition.

It appears that some delay has been occasioned in this case, especially considering the fact that the petitioners are in custody since 23.12.2020.

In view of the above and in the interest of justice, I request the learned trial court to conclude the proceeding as expeditiously as possible without granting any unnecessary adjournment to any of the parties, preferably within a period of one year from next date of hearing.

With these observations, the revisional application is disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order may be supplied to the parties expeditiously, if applied for. (Jay Sengupta, J.)