Supreme Court rules pre-condition of bank guarantee for bail cannot be sustained

The Supreme Court has held that a pre-condition of furnishing a bank guarantee for grant of bail cannot be sustained. The Court made this observation while allowing Criminal Appeal No.1193 of 2023 (arising out of SLP (CRL.) No. 2868/2023) between Makihjani Pushpak Harish (appellant) and the State of Gujarat (respondent).

The appellant was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by the Superintendent (Prevention) of Central GST and Central Excise, Vadodara, for offences punishable under Sections 69, 132(1)(a) of the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017. He made an application under Section 437 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for seeking bail before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Vadodara, and bail was granted subject to the condition that the appellant submits a bank guarantee of Rs. 3 crores along with certain other conditions.

Aggrieved by the imposition of the condition for deposit of a bank guarantee, the appellant approached the High Court by filing Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 710 of 2023 which came to be disposed of by the order dated 12.01.2023 impugned herein, whereby the High Court modified the condition of furnishing bank guarantee of an amount of Rs.3 crore by reducing it to Rs.1.5 crore.

The Supreme Court, while allowing the appeal, held that the pre-condition of furnishing a bank guarantee imposed by the High Court is not liable to be sustained and is hereby set aside. The Court referred to previous judgments where conditions of pre-deposit have been held to be bad. The Court upheld the rest of the conditions imposed for grant of bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate and upheld by the High Court. The Court directed that the appellant be released on bail.

The judgment was delivered by a Bench comprising Hon'ble Mr. Justice Krishna Murari and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah on 19th April 2023.

MAKHIJANI PUSHPAK HARISH  vs THE STATE OF GUJARAT