Do not disturb promotional avenues of prosecutors in trial courts even after BNSS, prosecutors urge Tamil Nadu Government

TNPOA appeals to Tamil Nadu Govt to maintain appointment of prosecutors from trial courts despite new law.

The Tamil Nadu Prosecuting Officers Association (TNPOA) has appealed to the State Government to continue the practice of appointing Director of Prosecution, Deputy Directors of Prosecution and Assistant Directors of Prosecution from among the prosecutors practising in trial courts even after the implementation of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 which has replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.).

In a representation submitted to the Chief Secretary, the TNPOA, represented by its adhoc president P. Sampath and secretary P. Washington Dhanasekaran said the entry level post for the prosecutors practising in the trial courts across the State was Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade II. After considerable number of years in service, they get promoted as Assistant Public Prosecutor Grade I and then as Additional Public Prosecutor.

Their further promotional avenues were to the posts of Assistant Director, Deputy Director, Joint Director and Director of Prosecution. This had been the practice followed all along under the provisions of the Cr.P.C. However, Section 20 of the BNSS states that any advocate with a minimum of 15 years of standing in the Bar or a person who had been a sessions judge could be appointed as Director or Deputy Director of Prosecution.

It further lays down the eligibility criteria for the post of Assistant Director of Prosecution to be seven years of standing in the Bar or having been a first class Magistrate. Since the new law paves way for direct recruitment too, the TNPOA feared that it might affect the promotional prospects of more than 500 prosecutors across the State and especially of those who had already put in 25 years of service in prosecution of criminal offences.

Highlighting that Section 18 of BNSS permits consideration of the service as an Assistant Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor too to be the period during which a person had been in practice as an advocate, the Association urged the State Government to continue the practice of appointing Director, Deputy Directors and Assistant Directors of prosecutions from among the serving cadre prosecutors in the State.