Delhi High Court orders State to fill vacancies of medical staff in Tihar jail

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the State government to fill up the vacancies of medical, para medical and other staff in Central Jail Hospital (CJH) and Tihar Jail within sixteen weeks [Court on its own Motion vs. Ministry of Home Affairs and Ors].A Bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that the jails in Delhi are overcrowded, while stressing that the sanctioned strength of the jail staff has to be met. “There is an overcrowding of 200 inmates when there is space for only 100,” the Court said..The Court was hearing a suo motu matter related to the conditions inside prisons. During the recent hearings, the Court had taken a serious note of the government's failure to set up of the Board of Visitors.The Board provides feedback to the jail authorities on basic facilities to be maintained in the prisons. On Tuesday, the counsel representing the Delhi government handed over notification on constitution of the Board of Visitors for all the jails..During the hearing, the Court was informed that there are large number of vacancies of the medical, para medical and other staff in the Tihar Jail.The government assured the Court that all the vacancies shall be filled up, as expeditiously as possible.In this backdrop, the Court passed the following order,"However, keeping in view the fact that the jails in Delhi are working much beyond their capacity, this Court directs the respondent to fill up all the vacancies of Medical, Para Medical and other staff in CJH and Tihar Jail in accordance with the GNCTD Act within sixteen weeks."With the direction, the Court disposed of the petitions..Senior Panel Counsel Avshreya Pratap Singh Rudy with advocates Usha Jamnal and Bishwajyoti Pal appeared for Delhi Police.Central Government Standing Counsel Monika Arora with advocates Subhrodeep Saha and Radhika appeared for the Union government. Additional Standing Counsel Anuj Aggarwal with advocates Vikrant Chawla, Yash Upadhyay and Siddhant Dutt appeared for the Delhi government.Advocates Bani Dikshit, Uddhav Khanna and Dhruv Vig appeared for the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.Advocates Sumer Kumar Sethi and Dolly Sharma represented the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DSLSA).Legal cum Probation Officer Hemant Mehta represented the Department of Women and Child Development of Delhi.Advocates Ajay Verma and Katyayini represented intervenors.[Read Order]