Taking a serious note of public prosecutors hobnobbing with politicians for orders of transfer to their convenience, the Himachal Pradesh High Court, on Wednesday, ruled that no public prosecutor, assistant district attorney and district attorney shall be transferred on the basis of the DO notes.

The court said all the transfers henceforth should be done in accordance with the Comprehensive Guidelines, 2013, for regulating the transfers of the employees, that too, only by the administrative authority.

A Division Bench of the high court comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Chander Bhusan Barowalia passed the order on a petition filed by Tarsem Kumar, a Public Prosecutor.

According to the petitioner, an MLA from Nagrota Bagwan issued a DO note on March 15 for the transfer of the petitioner at the behest of another public prosecutor Shikha Rana. Both Tarsem Kumar and Shikha Rana have at different times procured DO Notes from the local MLA for securing their transfers.

Rana’s defence is that the petitioner himself was transferred from Nurpur to Dalhousie in the year 2018, but he managed to get his transfer cancelled through DO Note by the local MLA. It has been further averred that the petitioner himself managed his transfer thereafter from ADA office Nurpur to ADA office Kangra, on January 15, 2020, on the basis of three DO Notes given by the MLA Rakesh Pathania, who himself was booked in a case pending adjudication before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Nurpur.

The petitioner being in-charge of the prosecution case at that time, procured the DO Note from Rakesh Pathania, who himself was undergoing trial in the said court.

The High Court wondered whether with these falling standards can the public repose any trust or confidence in the Prosecutors. Since both Tarsem Kumar and Shikha Rana are beneficiaries of the DO Notes, the Court has ordered to transfer and post them out of district Kangra.

Commenting on the conduct of the Public Prosecutor, the court observed that public prosecutor occupies a statutory office of high regard. Rather than a part of the investigating agency, they are instead an independent statutory authority. The role of the public prosecutor is intrinsically dedicated to conduct a fair trial and, therefore, it does not behove well that these attorneys be seen hobnobbing with the politicians or socializing with the public. The conduct and behaviour expected of them is nothing short of that expected of a judicial officer.

The court has ordered that all the public prosecutors inducted in service over the last 15 years, irrespective of their ranks as Assistant Public Prosecutors or Public Prosecutors, should undergo a refresher course designed, laying special emphasis on ethics, morality and conduct expected of a Public Prosecutor, in the Himachal Pradesh Judicial Academy, Shimla.

The director, Himachal Pradesh Judicial Academy, has been directed to design such a course within a period of four weeks and thereafter they be provided training or refresher courses on batch-wise basis stretched over a period of two months.