Plea challenging appointment of special prosecutors: Delhi High Court asks Centre, Delhi govt to respond

New delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre, State and Delhi Police, seeking their response on a petition moved last month against the June 24 decision of appointing 11 Special Public Prosecutors (SPPs) in cases related to the north-east Delhi riots that occurred earlier this year.

The order came in response to the petition filed by Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association (DPWA) arguing against the order issued by the Aam Aadmi Party government appointing the SPPs for the purpose of conducting trials in case pertaining to the February riots and seeking directions to appoint the same in a, "fair and impartial manner".

"…the said notification has been issued in blatant violation of the objectives and scheme envisaged under Section 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as well as law laid down by the judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court," the petition, filed by Advocates Aditya Kapoor and Kushal Kumar, read.

As per the petition, the AAP government had twice rejected proposals made by the Delhi Police to appoint the latter's chosen SPPs, suspecting that "some of them were closely related to office bearers of the Delhi Police" while "questioning their qualifications", and went ahead with its own set of empanelled Public Prosecutors. However, following the intervention of the Lt. Governor, who further referred it to the President, the said SPPs were appointed "without any consultation with the Directorate of Prosecution, GNCTD".

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa on behalf of DPWA, argued that, "The entire job of a public prosecutor is to be independent where he may have to take a decision against the police," adding that , "11 out of the 18 SPPs were appointed based on a recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner of Police to the state government".

Advocate Pahwa also claimed that the remuneration of the appointed SPPs is also being paid by the Delhi Police instead of the state government. "They have to be insulated from the police and cannot be directed to conduct judicial proceedings in a particular manner," he further submitted.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the Delhi Police, also spoke in favour of making the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as party in the case as, "proceeding without their submission in the present matter would be a misconception".

Taking note of the submissions, Justice Navin Chawla ordered MHA, AAP government and the Delhi Police to file their response before the next date of hearing on January 12.