CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday expressed concern that vacant posts in forensic laboratories were not being filled despite assurances by the State government. The single judge bench of Justice SK Sahoo said, “It is a usual feature that the preparation of chemical and serological examination reports in the State Forensic Science Laboratory and Regional Forensic Science Laboratories are getting delayed mainly on the ground of lack of infrastructure so also staff.”
“Instances are there when assurance has been given by none else than the Advocate General of the State to fill up the vacant posts in the laboratories at an earliest,” Justice Sahoo said. The HC expected the State government to take adequate steps to expedite it so that the reports of the laboratories reach at the courts at an earliest for speedy disposal of the trial cases.
The concern was expressed while affirming a trial court verdict in which four persons were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2015 after finding them guilty of raping a tribal woman in Sundargarh. The case was registered in 2013.