Appoint law officer in every jail within 12 weeks: Delhi High Court

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The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to appoint within 12 weeks a law officer in every jail in the capital to ensure that each inmate gets timely and free legal aid.

As per a plea by advocate Amit Sahni, there are 16 jails in Delhi — nine at Tihar prison complex, one at Rohini prison complex and six at Mandoli prison complex.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued the direction after Standing Counsel (Criminal) Rahul Mehra and Additional Standing Counsel Gautam Narayan, appearing for the Delhi government, submitted that the steps for creation of law officer posts for each jail is under process.

“As the respondents (Delhi government and Director General (Prisons)) have already initiated action to appoint law officers in each central jail, nothing further requires to be monitored. Nonetheless, we hereby direct the respondents to complete the appointment procedure as early as possible and practicable, preferably within a period of 12 weeks…,” the bench said.

After passing the order, the court disposed of the public interest litigation by advocate-activist Sahni, seeking enforcement and compliance of Section 6 of the Delhi Prisons Act, 2000, in a time-bound manner. The section mandates the appointment of a law officer for every jail.

Law officers supervise all legal matters, report day-to-day outcomes of court cases, appear in court along with the government counsel, and ensure each convict gets timely and free legal aid.

The section also mandates that there be a superintendent, deputy superintendent, a medical officer and welfare officer for every jail.

In his plea, the advocate had said that from August 2016 to February 2019, no law officer was appointed at the prison headquarters, and legal affairs were being dealt with by an officer equivalent to the rank of a superintendent.

The petitioner had said Section 6 was being complied with in every aspect, except in appointment of law officers. It added that currently, there is only one law officer for all 16 jails.

The plea had contended that Delhi’s jails are overcrowded, and a law officer for every prison would result in better administration.