High Court can't order a particular investigation, Rules SC

The Supreme Court, High Courts do not have the authority to order an investigation to be performed a certain way under Articles 226 of the Constitution or Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The comment was made by Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath as they were deliberating over an appeal brought against an order of the Calcutta High Court Division Bench.

When deciding on a bail request made by a person suspected of stealing public funds, the High Court made the observation that any investigation that needs to be conducted must be finished by October 31, 2022, after which the accused will be automatically released.

The High Court has the sole discretion to decide whether or not to grant bail, but the Supreme Court noted in the appeal that doing so would be tantamount to delegating that authority to the High Court by ordering the investigating agency to finish its work by a specific deadline, after which the accused would be automatically released.

The Bench annulled the High Court's instructions after making these observations and noted that the accused will be permitted to present a bail plea in front of the High Court.

State of West Bengal vs Sandip Biswas