The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to expedite the process of filling up the vacancies of public prosecutors in the capital.
A Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, were apprised by the Senior Advocate and amicus curiae Rajeev K Virmani about the current situation in a petition filed by the Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association.
The Bench noted in its order that the criminal justice system is already under stress with a huge backlog of cases which can be remedied only if vacancies of Public Prosecutors are filled up at the earliest.
The GNCTD is the only authority which can fill these vacancies.”
The counsel for the Association during the hearing, argued that one public prosecutor had to appear in about three to four courts, bringing the entire criminal justice system to a “standstill”.
The Court offered a last opportunity of four weeks to the Delhi government for expediting the process of filling up vacant posts and directed for a new status report to be filed.
The Court also cautioned that if a status report is not filed, or filed without a proper explanation on the reason of why the vacancies had not been filled up, the Delhi government’s Law Secretary and other officials responsible for the delay would be directed to appear.
Not only this, the department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has also been given last chance to file reply in the matter as directed by this Court, if not then the Court will direct the personal appearance of the Secretary, DoPT.
In its last affidavit which was filed on September 14, 2022, the Counsel for Government of Delhi had informed the bench that a fresh requisition was sent to Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for filling up the 108 vacant posts.
Advocate Deveshi Madan assisted Virmani, who was amicus curiae.