108 courts in capital non-functional for want of public prosecutors: Delhi High Court asks government to fill up vacancies

The Delhi High Court recently called upon the Delhi government to expedite the process of filling up vacancies of public prosecutors in the capital [Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association v. State]..Senior Advocate and amicus curiae Rajeev K Virmani informed a Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, about the current situation in a petition filed by the Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association.In response, the Bench noted in its order,"The criminal justice system is already plagued 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.".During the hearing, counsel for the Association argued that one public prosecutor had to appear in about three to four courts, bringing the entire criminal justice system to a “standstill"..After hearing the parties, the Court offered a “last indulgence” of four weeks to the Delhi government to expedite the process of filling up vacant posts and directed for a new status report to be filed.The Court also warned that if a status report was not filed, or filed without a proper explanation on 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.“The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) is also granted last opportunity to file reply in the matter as directed by this Court, failing which this Court will direct the personal appearance of the Secretary, DoPT,” it added..In the last affidavit filed on September 14, 2022 on the issue, the Delhi government counsel 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.For the Delhi government, Advocates Pragya Barsaiyan, Gautam Narayan appeared.Advocates Dev P Bhardwaj, Anubha Bhardwaj, Sarthak Anand, Ajay Digpaul, Kamal Digpaul and Swati Kwatra represented the Central government.Advocates Ripudaman Bhardwaj and Kushagra Kumar appeared for the Central Bureau of Investigation.Advocate Ashish Dixit appeared for the Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association, while Advocates Naresh Kaushik and Shubham Dwivedi appeared for UPSC. Advocates Sumer Singh Boparai, Sidhant Saraswat and Prateek Ahuja appeared for the intervenors, while Advocate Gaurav Agarwal represented the Delhi High Court..[Read order]