Delhi HC asks UPSC to expedite appointment of prosecutors

The Delhi High Court today asked the Union Public Service Commission to appoint Assistant Public Prosecutors in the lower judiciary in the wake of increasing pendency of cases.
"The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is directed to expedite the entire recruitment process taking in view the increase in pendency of the cases in the magisterial courts of the national capital," a special bench of justices Kailash Gambhir and Sunita Gupta said.
It further asked the Commission to inform it about the number of magisterial courts functioning in the lower court in the form of status report within three weeks.
The bench also sought a response before May 14 from the UPSC regarding the stage of the appointment process.

The court was hearing a case initiated by it in 2009 on the issue of delay in conducting trials in courts and had taken up the matter of lack of adequate facilities for prosecutors.
It had noted that there was a shortage of prosecutors in trial courts due to which one additional public prosecutor (APP) was being forced to take up the work of two or three courts.

It had, thereafter, also taken cognisance of delay in clearing the fees of prosecutors and standing counsel for various government agencies and directed them to complete the payment process at the earliest.

During the day's proceedings, the court was informed by the standing counsel for Delhi government Zubeda Begum that they have sent a request to the UPSC to appoint 65 APPs.
The Commission said that an advertisement was issued for appointing APPs on contractual basis and in response over 500 applications were received.
The court has asked Delhi government to share information with regard to the court's functions and the exact strength required for filling up of the vacant positions.