Pay salaries of prosecutors: HC to AAP government

In a major relief to the public prosecutors and government counsels who have not been paid for their services for several months, the Delhi High Court today asked the city government to clear all dues by September 2.
The bench of Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice Sunita Gupta directed the Law Department of the Delhi government to take "prompt steps in making payment of all the bills" pending for the prosecutors in the high court.
It also directed the Delhi chief secretary to file an affidavit explaining what steps he has taken with regard to court's earlier order, while observing that the chief secretary had not taken any effective steps to implement direction given by this court.

"This is despite the fact that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself after being apprised of the court's order had asked chief secretary to implement all the directions given by the court," the judge said, adding that chief secretary needs to explain his stand for non- implementation of the court's direction.
The court on August 6 had asked the chief secretary to look into whether computer, electronic library, stenographer and a big conference room or an office with a capacity to accommodate 35 additional public prosecutors (APPs) can be provided to the prosecutors in the Delhi High Court or not.

The chief secretary was asked to make immediate provision to implement all these measures, as it was very basic requirements for the proper functioning of the APPs.

The high court had taken up the issue of non-payment of salaries to government counsels while hearing a suo motu case in 2009 over the slow pace of work in trial courts.
Several lawyers, representing the Delhi government and central government agencies have not been paid for several months. These include lawyers appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Economic Offences Wing, Central Bureau of Investigation, as well as the APPs in the Delhi HC.

The court also directed the CBI, the central government and other government agencies to clear the pending bills of lawyers engaged to represent them.
Noting that the various problems faced by the prosecutors, including lack of basic facilities such as stationery and lack of access to the internet, was delaying work, the court had pulled up the government for not providing the necessary material.