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The Supreme Court has decided to defer hearing the issue of whether an accused is entitled default bail, if there is no chemical analysis report on record, along with the final report for a later date. Since this is a larger issue and point in law that the Court is seized of, the bails which also form part of the case will be heard tomorrow.

A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna, and Justice Hima Kohli said, "So far as the granting of bail and interim bail is concerned we'll pass an order by tomorrow morning. As far as 7 is concerned we are satisfied we are inclined to grant bail, and for others counsels appearing against it may evaluate and tell us by tomorrow."

To which ASG Aishwarya Bhati objected and stated that the larger issue may also be kept for hearing. However, the Court has listed the matter for hearing on the bails only for tomorrow.

The plea by Haryana Government, filed through Advocate Prateek Som has stipulated that there are contrary views taken by different High Courts on whether the bail can be granted in case the final report has been filed without the chemical examination report.

According to the averments, Kerala High Court had noted, “A Final Report filed in NDPS case without Chemical Analysis report is nothing but an incomplete report and hence the petitioner is liable to be released on default bail. The view of the High Court in the 1st impugned order that default bail can be granted only if the prosecution cannot prove its case without aid of chemical analysis report is completely erroneous."

The plea has stated that "The only way to establish a prima facie case can be on the basis a chemical examiner's report to identify whether the material seized is actually a contraband or not, or what is the quantity of the material seized."

The petitioner has further added that "The opinion of an expert witness cannot be reckoned as sufficient for proving a prima facie case."

The petitioner has sought direction to settle the issue by way of making an authoritative pronouncement.

Case Title: Mohd. Arbaz Vs. State of NCT of Delhi | State of Haryana Vs. Dildar Ram | Kulbir Singh Vs. The State of Haryana