India News | HC Seeks Delhi Govt's Stand on Plea Seeking Technological Facilities for Prosecutors
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought Delhi government's stand on a plea for providing adequate digital infrastructure and facilities to prosecutors.
New Delhi, Sep 7 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Tuesday sought Delhi government's stand on a plea for providing adequate digital infrastructure and facilities to prosecutors.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Mirdul and Anup J Bhambhani, which was hearing Delhi Prosecutors Welfare Association's application in a pending suo motu case concerning digitization of the Directorate of Prosecution, granted time to Delhi government counsel to get instructions.
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“You get instructions from GNCTD. We want to know what GNCTD is doing... Give us a follow up of what he (Law Secretary) has been doing,” the court told government counsel Sanjay Lao.
The government counsel said that pursuant to the order passed in the matter in February 2018, “some work has been done” and laptops along with dongle for internet connection have been given to prosecutors.
Counsel for the applicant association, advocate Ashish Mohan stated that the prosecutors lacked sufficient infrastructure to run their offices during the pandemic which resulted in virtual proceedings.
“It would be necessary to give us appropriate equipment to be able to run digital office,” said the counsel as he explained that at least two devices are needed to attend virtual hearings.
He submitted that representations were made to the Directorate of Prosecution and the Home Department of the Delhi government and the same should be decided in a time-bound manner.
In their application filed through advocate Kushal Kumar, the applicants stated that on account of the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, virtual system of court hearings, filings and so on have become a part of the judicial system.
“The prerequisite for an efficient virtual court environment is the availability of adequate facilities/ infrastructure which is missing in the case of Public Prosecutors in Delhi,” the application states.
In October 2017, the high court had directed the registration of a suo motu case on delays in filing of criminal leave petitions.
In February 2018, the court noted that the Directorate of Prosecution was yet to be computerized and directed that the task be taken up by the Delhi government on priority basis in order to facilitate easy flow of information and accessibility of records.
The matter would be heard next on September 24.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)