Delay in appointment of 174 Additional Public Prosecutors to criminal courts irks High Court

Hyderabad : The High Court on Wednesday has served show cause notices to Ravi Gupta, Principal Secretary, Home Department, Telangana for delay in appointment of 174 Additional Public Prosecutors in the criminal courts spread across the State.

The High Court division bench headed by Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy directed Srikanth Reddy, government pleader for Home department, to inform the Principal Secretary that if court orders were neglected, it would make sure that it would take the matter to its logical end.

The bench directed the Registry to post this matter on July 7, directing the Principal Secretary to reply to the show cause notice.

Earlier on January 4, 2021, Advocate General Banda Sivananda Prasad had informed the court that the State government had issued a GO on March 27 for appointment of 174 Additional Public Prosecutors and further sought time to inform the court about the timeline under which the government would fill up the posts and make appointments.

"Even after a lapse of more than two-and-a-half months, the process of appointment to above posts has not commenced. Even today, steps have not been taken for appointment of Addl PP posts, thereby obstructing the entire criminal justice system as there is an undue delay in the trial of criminal cases in the criminal courts where the Addl PPs play a pivotal role," observed CJ Hima Kohli.

"Even the appointment of Director of Prosecutions was delayed by the government. What is happening in the State? It has gone into a deep slumber and it wants the criminal justice in courts also to go into deep slumber," said Chief Justice Hima Kohli, adjourning the matter to July 7.