Default bail under Section 167 confirmed available for independent consideration by trial and High Courts; petitions withdrawn.

Lower courts retain independent jurisdiction to adjudicate applications for default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; the interim order of 1 May 2023 does not preclude trial courts or High Courts from independently considering or granting such bail, and this clarification preserves lower-court authority. Counsel were permitted to withdraw the Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions, which the Court recorded and disposed of as dismissed by withdrawal, producing a procedural termination of those petitions.

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Issues: (i) Whether the interim order of this Court dated 1 May 2023 precludes trial courts or High Courts from independently considering applications for grant of default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; (ii) Whether the Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions filed in these matters should be permitted to be withdrawn and disposed of accordingly.

Issue (i): Whether the interim order of this Court dated 1 May 2023 precludes trial courts or High Courts from independently considering applications for grant of default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The Court clarified the scope of its interim order dated 1 May 2023, addressing whether that order bars lower courts from entertaining applications for default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The clarification indicates that lower courts retain the independent jurisdiction to consider such applications without relying on the Court's earlier judgment dated 26 April 2023 in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 60 of 2023.

Conclusion: The interim order does not preclude trial courts or High Courts from independently considering applications for default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; this conclusion is in favour of the respondent.

Issue (ii): Whether the Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions should be permitted to be withdrawn and disposed of as withdrawn.

Analysis: Having regard to the permission sought by counsel for the applicants to withdraw the Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions in view of the clarification recorded, the Court recorded the withdrawal and proceeded to dispose of the petitions accordingly.

Conclusion: The Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions are dismissed as withdrawn; this conclusion is procedural and operates against the continued prosecution of those petitions.

Final Conclusion: The order preserves the independent authority of trial courts and High Courts to consider applications for default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and records the dismissal of the Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions as withdrawn.

Ratio Decidendi: An interim order of this Court shall not prevent trial courts or High Courts from independently adjudicating applications for default bail under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

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