Taking serious note of a shortage of 225 Assistant District Attorneys (ADAs) in Punjab’s magisterial courts, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state government to immediately recall all District Attorneys (DAs), Deputy District Attorneys (DDAs) and ADAs posted on deputation and redeploy them for judicial work across districts.
The directions came during the hearing of an ongoing suo motu public interest litigation initiated by the high court over shortage of prosecutors affecting criminal justice administration in Punjab and Haryana. At the onset, the Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Yashvir Singh Rathor was informed through a response affidavit filed by Punjab that only 211 ADAs were presently posted against 436 courts in the magisterial cadre across Punjab, leaving a deficiency of 225 prosecutors.
Referring to the affidavit and accompanying documents, the Bench recorded: “Insofar as Punjab is concerned, the response affidavit is accompanied by annexures, which reveals that against 436 courts in the magisterial cadre across the state, only 211 ADAs are presently posted, thereby leaving a deficiency of 225 posts.”
The state counsel submitted before the court that an advertisement dated April 23, had already been issued for filling up 170 vacant ADA posts. Taking serious note of the continuing deficiency, the Bench issued a writ of mandamus directing the Punjab Government to immediately recall all prosecutors working outside court assignments.
“The state is directed by a writ of mandamus to issue orders recalling all those DA, DDA and ADA who are presently not discharging court duties (on deputation) and posting them to various District & Sessions Judges, Additional District and Sessions Judges, Civil Judges (Senior Division) and Civil Judges (Junior Division) wherever deficiency of DAs/DDAs/ADAs exists and report compliance before next date of hearing,” the court ordered.
