Public Prosecutors and Prosecuting Officers are engaged by the Government to pursue court cases both criminal and civil. They are required to defend the position of the Government in all cases. They are provided necessary logistics by the Government agencies that help them plead the Government’s position. This being the nature of duty, it is common sense that the Government enjoys the right to evaluating their performance on the basis of court judgments in favour or against the Government.
In a recent review of the performance of Public Prosecutors conducted by the Law Minister, he found that six PPs had very poor performance and they had lost many cases to the embarrassment of the Government. As such, the Law Minister has ordered disengagement of six PPs. We will not discuss individual cases and will try to react on the entire process of public prosecution culture in the State. After the rise of turmoil in the State in 1990 and its impact on law and order situation, a large number of cases related to the disruption of law and order situation have been registered by the Government in the courts of law. Firstly, the number of such cases is fairly large. Secondly, the grapevine has it that the police have not full and convincing evidence to prove the charges against the indicted persons in a court of law. Thirdly, there is some discrepancy in various laws that would cover the cases filed in the court of law. Taking all these factors into consideration, it is just possible that the Public Prosecutors are not fully armed to fight the case on its merits. In criminal cases, cooperation of the police is very essential. Without that cooperation, the PPs cannot proceed satisfactorily in the matter of pushing the Government’s stand. We hope that the Minister, while passing the orders of disengagement of six PPs will not have overlooked these factors.
We do not mean to defend the PPs who have been disengaged because that is not our job. We are only discussing the role of the Government in providing the necessary nuts and bolts with the help of which the Public Prosecutors can carry forward the task assigned to them by the Government. May be some of them have advertently soft paddled with the task assigned to them. In such a situation the Government is within its right to ensure that its position is strengthened. In these cases, obviously, the Government must have gathered all the relevant proof that convinced the Minister that these Public Prosecutors have not been able to deliver the goods and as such the punitive action was needed.
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