PIL In Delhi High Court Challenges State Govt's Appointment Of Director Of Prosecution

A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Delhi High Court challenging the appointment of Rama Kant Pandey as Delhi Government's Director of Prosecution.

A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora tagged the PIL along with a similar pending plea which challenged the appointment of former Director of Prosecution, Alka Pandey.

The fresh PIL has been moved by Andy Sehgal and Chiranjit Singh Bisht, working as Assistant Public Prosecutors with the Delhi Government's Directorate of Prosecution.

The plea contends that Pandey's appointment is illegal and is liable to be declared void ab initio as it is made arbitrarily bypassing the statutory concurrence of the Chief Justice as mandated under Section 25A of the Cr. PC.

The provision states that a person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Director of Prosecution or a Deputy Director of Prosecution, only if he or she has been in practice as an advocate for not less than 10 years and such appointment shall be made with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court.

The PIL states that there is no transparency or open call for applications or advertisement for appointment to the post of Director of Prosecution in the Delhi Government.

It adds that the process of appointment to the post in question is entirely arbitrary and opaque, and thus, completely violative of the rule of law.

“Therefore, the appointment/promotion of Sh. Rama Kant Pandey as Director (prosecution), Govt. of NCT of Delhi without the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court is illegal, hence void ab initio,” the plea states.

It adds: “Further, the Director (Prosecution) Recruitment Rules, 2021 which exclude the mandatory concurrence of Chief Justice of High Court undermining its Constitutional office as envisaged under Section 25-A of Cr.PC is ultra vires, hence void to that extent.”

Title: ANDY SEHGAL & ANR. v. GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI & ORS.