NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has instructed the city government to initiate ad-hoc appointments to the posts of additional and assistant public prosecutors in trial courts across the capital, in view of persistent vacancies hampering criminal proceedings.
A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal, while hearing a suo motu case registered in 2009 on prolonged incarceration of undertrials, directed the Delhi Government to fill these posts temporarily, either through direct recruitment or ad-hoc promotions, within four weeks.
It further ordered the government to file a fresh affidavit outlining a concrete plan for addressing vacancies. The court directed that “necessary measures be taken to ensure ad-hoc appointments are made, pending regular recruitments, to guarantee the smooth functioning of criminal courts and ensure the availability of one public prosecutor for each court.”
During the hearing, the court examined an affidavit filed by the Delhi government which noted that 210 additional public prosecutor and 265 assistant public prosecutor posts had been sanctioned post-cadre restructuring. The affidavit also mentioned ongoing efforts for contractual hiring of assistant public prosecutors and ad-hoc promotions for additional public prosecutors.
However, the court flagged the lack of details in the affidavit regarding posts where no amendment in recruitment rules is needed.
The matter is scheduled for September 12. In 2023, the HC had set up a committee to supervise the recruitment process and instructed the Delhi government to fast-track the establishment of a specialised training academy for public prosecutors.