Delhi HC DB To Hear Plea Seeking To Transfer Work Of Chargesheet Scrutiny From Prosecutors To Legal Division Of Police

Filed by the Delhi Prosecutors' Welfare Association, which identifies itself as a registered association of all the Public Prosecutors functioning in the district courts of the NCT of Delhi, the petition states that this practice, which commenced in 1978 by a Standing Order of the Delhi Police and got sanctioned by the GNCTD in 1997, in fact goes against the scheme of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1971 (CrPC).

Claiming that the work is an additional task performed by the public prosecutors, who "have never been paid any form of remuneration for the work of scrutiny of chargesheets," the plea also states that the government of the national capital territory of Delhi (GNCTD) itself has at various points recognized that the scrutiny classifies as additional work being done by the public prosecutors.

The association claims that despite several representations in this regard, a decision by the Lt. Governor on the issue in 2012, and the acceptance on an affidavit filed by the GNCTD before the High Court in 2013, no concrete action has been taken till date to relieve the public prosecutors of the burden of this unpaid for, additional task.

Infact, the Association alleges that instead of taking steps towards the concretization of its own earlier , the government has on the contrary, backtracked to discussing about the remuneration to be paid to the public prosecutors instead of deliberating upon the setting-up of the legal cell of Delhi Police meant to carry out the task.