HC seeks state’s reply on appointment of police officer as prosecution director

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court on Monday directed the state govt to submit the service rules framed for the post of director of prosecution and file a detailed response within one month regarding why police officers continue to be appointed to the position.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay issued the order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Keshav Singh Chauhan. The petition challenges the state’s practice of appointing senior police officers to the post instead of retired judges or senior advocates.During the proceedings, petitioner Chauhan pointed out that the state govt had failed to submit an explanation despite previous court directives.

In response, the state counsel requested additional time, prompting the bench to grant a final one-month window before scheduling the next hearing.According to the petition, even though 26 years have passed since the formation of Uttarakhand, the state has exclusively appointed police officers to head the prosecution department. The plea argues that this practice directly violates BNS Section 20, which stipulates that the director of prosecution must be a retired sessions judge or an advocate with at least 15 years of legal practice.

The petitioner further argued that the prosecution department was legally separated from the police force to guarantee independent criminal investigations. Allowing a police officer to oversee public prosecutors creates a conflict of interest that could severely compromise the integrity of the judicial process. The PIL seeks a court directive to enforce BNS criteria and Supreme Court mandates for all future appointments to the post.