Sachin Das vs State Of Kerala

Bechu Kurian Thomas, J

Petitioner is the 1st accused in C.C.No.1622/2019 on the files of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Kollam. He seeks for a direction for speedy disposal of the aforesaid case.

According to the petitioner, due to the pendency of the said case for the last four years, the possibility of the petitioner to travel abroad is restricted. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that, petitioner is innocent of the allegations and that, if the trail is completed in a time bound manner, there is every chance for him to be acquitted.

Even though the learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently sought for a direction to dispose of the case in a time bound manner, considering the pendency of cases before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Kollam, I am of the view that, a direction from this Court is not proper in the absence of any exceptional reasons. Already, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the disposal of cases in the Magistrate Courts had been affected. Several cases filed prior to C.C. No.1622/2019 are pending consideration. Therefore, it is not legal or proper on the part of this Court issue a direction to dispose of the said case by granting priority over other cases.

However, it will be open to the petitioner to request the learned Magistrate to consider and dispose of the said case expeditiously. If in case, any such application is filed by the petitioner seeking for an out of turn priority for disposal of C.C.No.1622/2019 on the files of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Kollam, the learned Magistrate will be at liberty to consider such a request.

With the above observations, this original petition is disposed of.