Page 9 - 15MAY2019E

security

Court grills Delhi govt over handed over to officer with ad hoc

arrangement. Since the beginning,
posting law offiCers in jails Tihar Jail is overburdened and despite
setting up seven new jails outside the
Tihar Jail campus, prisons in Delhi are
overcrowded, thereby resulting in a
From August 2016 to February 2019, no law officer was appointed stressful environment for officers and
staff,” the plea said.
at the prison headquarters, reports tehelka bureau “Further, the burden is created by
the respondents by not recruiting law
he Delhi Government has Mandoli. Tihar includes nine jails, Ro- officers for every jail as per the man-
been asked by the Delhi hini has one, while the Mandoli prison date of the statute i.e. Delhi Prisons
High Court to respond on complex has six jails. The petition Act, 2000. It is not only in the interest
a plea seeking posting of also claimed that from August 2016 of the prisoners but also in the interest
T law officers in all jails in the to February 2019, no law officer was of better management of Tihar Jail to
national capital. A bench of Chief Jus- appointed at the prison headquarters have a law officer for every jail under
tice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup and the legal affairs were dealt with by the respondent,” it said.
Jairam Bhambhani has asked the Delhi an officer equivalent to the rank of a The plea said there is a superin-
Government and Director General of deputy superintendent. tendent, a deputy superintendent
Prisons to submit a reply and has fixed Section 6 of Delhi Prisons Act, 2000 and a medical officer for each jail but
the matter to be heard on August 29. provides that every prison shall have a
The court was hearing advocate superintendent, a deputy superinten-
Amit Sahni’s public interest litigation dent, a medical officer, a law officer, a The jails in the state
who has sought directions to Delhi welfare officer and such other officers are over-crowded
Government, ensuring compliance of as the government thinks it necessary.
Section 6 of the Delhi Prison Act, 2000, The plea said the jails in the state are and a law officer for
by appointing one law officer for every over-crowded and a law officer for every prison would
jail in Delhi. The Act mandates that every prison would result in a better
there shall be a law officer, a superin- administration. result in a better
tendent, a deputy superintendent, a “There are 16 jails in Delhi and law administration,
medical officer and a welfare officer officer (headquarters) is looking after
for every jail. legal matters of all 16 jails, including says the petition
There are 16 jails in Delhi in three legal work pertaining to the head-
prison complexes- Tihar, Rohini and quarters. The legal work cannot be
the respondents have not complied
with the mandate of section 6 of Delhi
Prisoners Act, 2000 for reasons best
known to them.
“The respondents (government of
NCT Delhi and Director General of
Prisons, Tihar) are duty-bound to com-
ply with the mandate of Delhi Prisons
Act, 2000 in its letter and spirit,” it said.
The petition said that the appoint-
ment of a law officer was necessary
to supervise all legal matters, draft
and file replies to the court, follow up
on cases, appear in court along with
the government counsel, co-ordinate
with branches of the department for
compliance with directions of courts
and maintenance of monthly statistics
of court cases among others.
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