Special Court jurisdiction excludes ordinary sessions court from granting bail in notified economic offences.

Where a validly constituted Special Court for Economic Offences is designated under the statutory scheme and notification, the ordinary sessions court's jurisdiction is excluded for offences within that special field. Bail applications for such notified offences must therefore be moved before the Special Court alone, even if the offences arise under the Customs Act, 1962 and the accused claims the offences are bailable. On that jurisdictional basis, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge could not entertain or grant bail, and the bail order was held unsustainable and set aside, subject to the accused being permitted to surrender before the competent Special Court and seek fresh bail there.

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Issues: Whether the Metropolitan Sessions Judge had jurisdiction to entertain and grant bail in respect of offences under the Customs Act, 1962 triable by the Special Court for Economic Offences, and whether the bail order was liable to be set aside.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Government notification constituting the Special Court for Economic Offences showed that the designated Special Court was created as a separate forum for the notified economic offences and that the jurisdiction of regular sessions courts stood excluded for matters within that special field. The Court also relied on earlier circular instructions and prior judicial pronouncements holding that, for offences covered by the notification, bail applications must be moved before the Special Court alone. The fact that the offences were under the Customs Act, 1962 and the accused claimed bailability did not enlarge the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge to entertain the application.

Conclusion: The Metropolitan Sessions Judge lacked jurisdiction to grant bail, and the impugned bail order was unsustainable and set aside.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded on the jurisdictional issue, but the Court protected the interim position briefly so the accused could surrender before the competent Special Court and seek fresh bail there.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special court is validly constituted for notified economic offences and the governing notification and scheme exclude the ordinary sessions court, only the special court can entertain bail applications for those offences.

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