The Madhya Pradesh High Court Bar Association, Jabalpur has submitted a detailed representation to Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva flagging serious concerns regarding handling of bail matters, criminal appeals, criminal revisions and procedural difficulties affecting access to justice before the High Court.
In the representation dated May 8, 2026, the Bar Association stated that despite settled Supreme Court principles on liberal consideration of bail, particularly in offences punishable up to seven years, safeguards under Sections 41 and 41-A CrPC and corresponding provisions under Section 35(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 were allegedly not being adequately examined while deciding bail applications.
The Bar Association further alleged that even after filing of charge sheets, courts were passing orders observing that “investigation is still continuing” and refusing bail, leading to prejudice to litigants.
It also expressed concern over what it termed “excessive negative disposals” in criminal matters, claiming that several cases were being dismissed at the threshold stage without adequate judicial consideration merely to improve disposal statistics.
In relation to Single Bench criminal appeals, the representation stated that applications for suspension of sentence and grant of bail were often not being effectively considered unless appellants had already undergone nearly half of the awarded sentence.
The Bar Association warned that such an approach could cause irreversible prejudice if convictions are ultimately set aside at final hearing.
The representation also raised concerns over criminal revision matters, particularly maintenance-related cases, alleging that revisions were frequently disposed of at the first hearing itself by granting liberty to approach subordinate courts, thereby diluting the efficacy of revisional jurisdiction.
Further, the Bar Association highlighted procedural issues relating to mention memos and urgent listings, alleging that physical mention memos were often not accepted while online/ERP mention memos frequently did not result in effective listing or assignment of dates.
Calling for corrective administrative measures, the Bar Association urged the Chief Justice to address the concerns to ensure litigants are not deprived of effective justice and to restore confidence of lawyers and litigants in the justice delivery system.