Delhi govt's reply on office infrastructure for prosecutors evasive: HC

The Delhi High Court has observed that the Delhi government's reply regarding office space and infrastructure for prosecutors has been "evasive" and asked the principal secretaries of the law and home departments to be present before it on the next date of hearing.

It was hearing an application filed by the Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association in a pending suo motu case concerning digitisation of the Directorate of Prosecution.

A bench of justices Mukta Gupta and Poonam A Bamba noted that though it had called for a report from the home department's principal secretary on the matter, it was submitted under the signature of the Director of Prosecution.

"In this application, this court is presently dealing with the demands of the prosecution department and thus, it is not proper that the status report in response to the direction of this court has been filed by the director prosecution, that is, the applicant before this court," the bench said in its order on November 8, which was uploaded on the court's website on Monday.

The high court said that "the response of the home department appears to be evasive as, for instance, in respect of office space and office infrastructures, the remarks of the home department are that no action was required at their end and thus, a letter was sent to the registrar general of this court, requesting to pursue the issue of providing adequate space in each district to the prosecuting officers".

The bench said regarding the proposal to reimburse the amount for purchasing laptops, printers and tablet computers, it has been stated by authorities that the previous bids were cancelled as participants could not qualify in the technical bid and a fresh bid was floated on November 9.

"It is not noted as to when the earlier bid was cancelled and the decision to call for a fresh bid was taken. As regards the request of the prosecutors for subscription of law journals is concerned, again, a proposal has been sent to the home department, however, no reply thereon has been received," it said.

Considering the stands taken in the status report, the bench asked the principal secretaries of the home and the law departments of the Delhi government to be present in court on the next date of hearing January 12.

The high court had earlier issued a notice to the Delhi government and sought its response on the application, filed through advocate Kushal Kumar, seeking to provide adequate digital infrastructure and facilities to prosecutors.

In October 2017, the high court had directed registration of a suo motu case on delays in filing of criminal leave petitions by the government.

In February 2018, the court had noted that the Directorate of Prosecution was yet to be computerised and directed that the task be taken up by the Delhi government on priority basis in order to facilitate easy flow of information and accessibility of records.

The bench had earlier directed the law department's principal secretary to give data in relation to compliance of time-line, given in May 2018, for filing appeals or criminal leave petitions before the high court from September 1 last year.

The prosecutors' association had earlier said its members lacked sufficient infrastructure to run their offices during the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in virtual proceedings, and it would be necessary to give them appropriate equipment to be able to run digital offices.