MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Monday granted six months to the state government to fill the vacancies in the posts of psychologists, welfare officers, etc in prisons across Tamil Nadu.
A bench of justices C V Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel issued the deadline while closing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by an advocate, K R Raja of Madurai, seeking direction to fill vacancies in the prisons situated in the southern districts of TN.
Raja stated in his petition that the posts of Superintendent (Correctional Services) and the Superintendent (Training and Modernisation) were created under the TN Prison Rules, 2024, for the implementation of correctional programmes, rehabilitation measures, welfare initiatives, training policies and the modernisation of prison administration. But the said posts remain vacant till date, he alleged.
Similarly, several crucial correctional posts remain vacant in the prison department, Raja claimed, adding that the shortage of medical officers and staff in prison also continues.
Hearing the plea, the judges emphasised the importance of psychologists and welfare officers in prisons. “The post of psychologists in prison is very essential to address the mental health of every prisoner,” the judges observed.
It is required to address the mental state of prisoners on commission of offence, the anxiety which they would have about the nature of punishment they would have to undergo, the trauma they would have about their family’s welfare and the fear that the victims would come for revenge, they explained, adding that the post of welfare officer also carries similar weight.
Besides this, the other two posts — Superintendent (Correctional Services) and Superintendent (Training and Modernisation) — though optional, require technical knowledge. Particularly, the former is about reforming prisoners and the latter deals with the infrastructure to be provided in every prison, including facilities required by prisoners with disabilities, they further observed.
They directed the government to fill up these vacancies as per regulations within six months.
