Source: Delhi High Court

Why in News?

Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna have constituted a monitoring committee to periodically review the recruitment of public prosecutors for trial courts.

• The Delhi High Court gave this judgment in the case of the Court on its own motion v. State and other connected matters.

What is the Background of Court on its own motion v. State and other connected matters?

• The bench emphasized the need for recruiting more public prosecutors and also expressed concern over the pendency of cases in trial courts in the national capital.
• The matter will now be heard in February.
• The bench was hearing a bunch of petitions, including a suo moto case registered in 2009 after a letter petition was moved highlighting the issue of undertrials languishing in jail from 5 to 12 years without a trial.
• In September, the bench had directed the Delhi Government to conduct training of the newly recruited public prosecutors in coordination with Delhi Judicial Academy.
• It had directed the Delhi Government to file a status report regarding the conduct of training programmes and also the latest position of vacancies in respect of public prosecutors.

What was the Court’s Observation?

• The DHC ordered that the monitoring committee shall comprise of the officials from various government departments, including Delhi Government's Finance and Law & Justice department and directed that the monitoring committee shall also make recommendations to the Delhi Government regarding vacancies of public prosecutors.

What is a ‘Public Prosecutor’?

• Meaning:
  • A public prosecutor is one who represents the interest of the state. A ‘Public Prosecutor’ is considered as the agent of the state to represent the interest of common people in the criminal justice system.
• Role of Public Prosecutor:
  • It is the public prosecutor who represents the interests of the state. Their role begins after the police have conducted the investigation and filed the charge sheet in court.
  • They have no role to play in the investigation. The Prosecutor must conduct the prosecution on behalf of the State.
• Section 24 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Public Prosecutors-

(1) For every High Court, the Central Government or the State Government shall, after consultation with the High Court, appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors, for conducting in such court, any prosecution, appeal or other proceeding on behalf of the Central Government or State Government, as the case may be.

(2) The Central Government may appoint one or more Public Prosecutors for the purpose of conducting any case or class of cases in any district or local area.

(3) For every district, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors for the district:

Provided that the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor appointed for one district may be appointed also to be a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, for another district.

(4) The District Magistrate shall, in consultation with the Sessions Judge, prepare a panel of names of persons, who are, in his opinion, fit to be appointed as Public Prosecutors or Additional Public Prosecutors for the district.

(5) No person shall be appointed by the State Government as the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor for the district unless his name appears in the panel of names prepared by the District Magistrate under sub-section (4).

(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (5), where in a State there exists a regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor only from among the persons constituting such Cadre:

• • • Provided that where, in the opinion of the State Government, no suitable person is available in such Cadre for such appointment that Government may appoint a person as Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, from the panel of names prepared by the District Magistrate under sub-section (4).
      • Explanation. -For the purposes of this sub-section,

(a) “regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers” means a Cadre of Prosecuting Officers which includes therein the post of a Public Prosecutor, by whatever name called, and which provides for promotion of Assistant Public Prosecutors, by whatever name called, to that post;

(b) “Prosecuting Officer” means a person, by whatever name called, appointed to perform the functions of a Public Prosecutor, an Additional Public Prosecutor or an Assistant Public Prosecutor under this Code.

(7) A person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) or sub-section (6), only if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years.

(8) The Central Government or the State Government may appoint, for the purposes of any case or class of cases, a person who has been in practice as an advocate for not less than ten years as a Special Public Prosecutor:

Provided that the court may permit the victim to engage an advocate of his choice to assist the prosecution under this sub-section.

(9) For the purposes of sub-section (7) and sub-section (8), the period during which a person has been in practice as a pleader, or has rendered (whether before or after the commencement of this code) service as a Public Prosecutor or as an Additional Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor or other Prosecuting Officer, by whatever name called, shall be deemed to be the period during which such person has been in practice as an advocate.