HYDERABAD: Worried about pendency of cases in criminal courts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states due to the gross deficit of public prosecutors on regular basis and adverse impact on qualitative and quantitative disposal of cases due to overburdening of the work of available prosecutors, a division bench of the High Court has recently issued notices to the central, AP and Telangana governments asking them to file counter affidavits on the issue.
The bench, comprising chief justice TBN Radhakrishnan and justice V Ramasubramanian, passed this interim order on a suo motu PIL case which was based on a letter addressed to the court registry regarding the rise in the pendency of cases in criminal courts in the two states.
TBN Radhakrishnan also said that the way the available prosecutors were made in-charge for more than two or three courts, would lead to overburdening of the work of prosecutors and cause adverse impact on the qualitative disposal of cases.
In the larger interest and effective prosecution in criminal jurisdiction, and the right of victims to have timely prosecution and due disposal of litigations on merits and to protect the rights of accused persons to have early conclusion of the trial and disposal of cases, it was necessary to ensure cohesive, conducive and comprehensive management of the scenario of criminal justice delivery system, he observed.
The High Court bench issued notices to the secretary to the Union ministry of law and justice, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state chief secretaries, principal secretaries to home, secretaries to law, directors-general of police, directors of prosecutions and member-secretaries of state legal services authorities for filing counter-affidavits, and posted the matter to October 30 for further hearing.
Bench’s direction
The bench directed the officials concerned to file counter-affidavits and posted the matter to October 30 for further hearing.