Kashinath Malo@Kashi v. State Of West Bengal

CRR 2665 of 2021 Court No.

Item 71 tbsr In the matter of:- Kashinath Malo @ Kashi 24.12.

Mr. Subhajit Chowdhury .....for the petitioner Mr. Bidyut Kumar Roy Mr. Anindya Sundar Chatterjee .....for the State This is an application seeking an expeditious disposal of a proceeding in which a charge-sheet was submitted under Sections 20(b)(ii)(c) of the NDPS Act. Let a copy of this application be served upon Mr. Bidyut Kumar Roy and Mr. Anindya Sundar Chatterjee, learned counsels, who are present in court today and who ordinarily appear on behalf of the State. Their engagement may be regularised in due course by the competent authority of the State.

Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner submits as follows. The petitioner is an accused in this case. He was arrested on 13.08.2019, the date on which the FIR was registered. A charge-sheet was submitted on 10.11.2019 citing eleven witnesses. Although the charges were framed on 01.03.2021, till date not a single witness could be examined. The next date of evidence has been fixed on 08.03.2022. The proceeding has remained pending for no fault of the present petitioner.

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 petitioner and the State and have perused the revision petition.

It appears that inordinate delay has been occasioned in this case, especially considering the fact that the petitioner is in custody since 13.08.2019. That apart, long dates are being fixed during trial. 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 ten months from the 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.)