New Delhi, The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed an order of the city government mandating public prosecutors in trial courts to mark their attendance daily through the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System .
“The work of a prosecuting officer is court-centric. The petitioner, represented by senior advocates N Hariharan, Ashish Mohan and Sacchin Puri, contended that public prosecutors and additional public prosecutors are officers of the court, appointed under sections 18 and 19 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and their presence is recorded daily in the judicial order sheets. Courts commence at 10:00 A.M.; before that, the prosecuting officer confers with investigating officers, scrutinises police files, verifies the presence of witnesses and prepares remand and bail matters, and thereafter remains in court until it rises,” the petition said.
All prosecuting officers must mark daily attendance on the biometric attendance machine or on their mobile phones through the attendance App at their respective district court complex/office of the district in-charge, according to the directive. “A rigid attendance regime not only imposes an unreasonable administrative burden upon chief public prosecutors to account for routine court-related movements, but also has the potential to divert prosecuting officers from their primary judicial functions and cause avoidable delays in remand, bail and trial proceedings, thereby adversely affecting the expeditious administration of criminal justice and the constitutional guarantee of speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” it added.
