https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=34588 Delhi HC quashed central excise criminal proceedings that had remained at the pre-charge stage for years after summoning, holding that the accused's Article 21 right to a speedy trial had been violated. The Court found the delay to be unexplained and largely attributable to the prosecution, which had not taken effective steps to record pre-charge evidence and could not shift its burden onto the trial court by filing only a list of witnesses. Applying the settled balancing approach, the Court treated the prolonged lapse of time, the prejudice caused, and the impracticability of a meaningful conviction as decisive factors. The connected departmental challenge was rendered infructuous. en-us Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:42:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=34588 Delhi HC quashed central excise criminal proceedings that had remained at the pre-charge stage for years after summoning, holding that the accused's Article 21 right to a speedy trial had been violated. The Court found the delay to be unexplained and largely attributable to the prosecution, which had not taken effective steps to record pre-charge evidence and could not shift its burden onto the trial court by filing only a list of witnesses. Applying the settled balancing approach, the Court treated the prolonged lapse of time, the prejudice caused, and the impracticability of a meaningful conviction as decisive factors. The connected departmental challenge was rendered infructuous. Case-Laws Central Excise Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=34588