PAN Card not essential to stand surety: Kerala HC

Kochi, July 25 (UNI) In a relief to the common man caught on the wrong side of the law, the Kerala High Court today set aside a lower court judgment insisting on people standing surety for an accused to be PAN Card holders.

Considering a petition filed by one Anil Kumar T K from Alappuzha, an accused in a cheating case, Justice R Basanth said rigid insistence on those standing surety being PAN Card holders was certainly not necessary.

In his petition, Anil Kumar had challenged the order of the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, who while granting him bail in the case, imposed the condition that he must execute a bond with two solvent sureties, who were PAN Card holders.

Aggrieved by this condition, because of which he could not avail the bail, Anil Kumar had moved the High Court.

Setting aside the lower court's insistence on PAN Card, the High Court observed that courts must look at the plight of the ordinary members of the polity. ''How many persons in this country will be able to get such sureties,'' the court asked.

It was enough that the sureties were sufficient and solvent, the court added.

UNI