POST OF DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF PROSECUTION AS BEING VIOLATIVE OF SEC 20)2)(A) OF BNSS, 2023
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Punjab and Haryana Advocate Mr. Hemant Kumar, in a communication to Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Director of Prosecution (General) Directorate of Prosecution, Home Department. Advocate-General for the State of Haryana.The Legal Remembrancer cum Admn. Secy. Law & Legislative Department, raised issue of promotion of 22 Distt. Attorneys in Haryana to the post of Deputy Director of prosecution.
This Memorandum cum Pre-Litigation Representation is being sent by the undersigned so as to uphold the majesty of Constitution of India as well as Sec 20(2)(a) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 (Central Act 46 of 2023) as enacted by Parliament of India which is effective across the country with effect from 1 July 2024.
In this regard, Mr. Hemant Kumar, in his communication, said, on 31 December 2025, the Governor of Haryana ( means the State Government of Haryana in the Home Department) promoted total number of 22 District Attorneys (Das) viz. Suman Bansal, Sohan Singh, Legha Deepak Ranjeet, Satish Kumar, Anand Mann, Sunil Kumar, Satyender Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary, Dharmender Rana, Manoj Kumar, Deepak Boora, Harpal Singh, Anita, Rajesh Kumar, Parvez, Sumer Singh, Hitender Singh, Narender Singh, Manjeet Singh, Ashwani Kumar Chaudhary, Suresh Kumar and Parul Chauhan to the post of Deputy Director Prosecution in accordance with provisions contained in Haryana State
Legal Services (Group A) Amended Rules, 2025. This is misnomer since the actual and official name of aforementioned Rules is Haryana State Prosecution Department Legal Services (Group A) Rules, 2013 (as amended in Dec, 2025).
In this regard, it is legally asserted that since as per Section 20(2)(a) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 A person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Director of Prosecution or a Deputy Director of Prosecution, if he has been in practice as an Advocate for not less than fifteen years or is or has been a Sessions Judge, hence all the aforementioned 22 number of District Attorneys legally cannot be appointed as Deputy Director of Prosecution in the State of Haryana merely by mode/route of Promotion since it is inadmissible/not permissible under provisions of Section 20(2)(a) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
Further, even if the appropriate Rules viz. Haryana State Prosecution Department Legal Services (Group A) Rules, 2013 have been amended by the State Government of Haryana in Dec, 2025 for facilitating the promotion of District Attorneys to the posts of Deputy Director of Prosecution on seniority-cum-merit basis and on the basis of having combined experience of 15 years as a member of the Haryana Prosecution Department (Group-A) Legal Service and/or Haryana Prosecution Department (Group-B) Legal Service and an Advocate as per the requirement of section 20(2) read with section 18(9) of Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, still it is not legally tenable because if the provision of a duly enacted law/statute i.e. Section 20(2)(a) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in this case clearly stipulates that a person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Director of Prosecution or a Deputy Director of Prosecution, if he has been in practice as an Advocate for not less than fifteen years or is or has been a Sessions Judge, hence in view of this, how the District Attorneys ( who are actually and essentially duly designated Government Pleaders under CPC,1908 and Public Prosecutors under BNSS, 2023 (earlier under erstwhile CrPC, 1973) and who are regularly appointed and serving Group A officers of Haryana Government can be promoted and appointed to the post of Deputy Director of Prosecution especially when there is no statutory liberty/scope for making such sort of deviation available the State Government not only under Section 20(2)(a) but even under entire/whole Section 20 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.
As the duly duly enacted law/statute i.e. Section 20(2)(a) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 which is enacted by Parliament of India, only Advocates (purportedly individual practicing Advocates and not regularly appointed and serving Government Advocates) with not less than fifteen years of practice or a person who is or has been a Sessions Judge can be appointed as Deputy Director of Prosecution.
As the far as the question that if minimum 15 years experience as Government Advocates ( read as Government Pleaders/Public Prosecutors) possessed by District Attorneys also makes them eligible for appointment to the post of Deputy Director of Prosecution, the undersigned is of the considered opinion that in view of Constitution Bench judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Re: Rejanish KV Vs. K Deepa and others ( D/- 9 October 2025) ( which was however regarding counting pre-appointment minimum seven years Bar experience of persons who are currently working/serving as Subordinate Judges/Judicial Officers for being eligible to compete for posts of Additional District and Sessions Judge under Direct Bar/Advocates Quota), such District Attorneys can at the most be considered eligible for being considered as prospective candidates in an Open Recruitment/Selection Process to be undertaken for filling up posts of Deputy Director of Prosecution but they cannot have wholly-solely right to be directly appointed to the post of Deputy Director of Prosecution merely on the basis of seniority-cum-merit basis.
Be that as it may, if the aforementioned 22 number of District Attorneys who have been recently promoted to the post of Deputy Director of Prosecution are not reverted to their erstwhile posts and also if 22 or else all 24 newly created/duly sanctioned posts of Deputy Director of Prosecution are not filled up in strict and meticulous compliance of Section 20(2)(a) of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita(BNSS), 2023 i.e. by an Open Recruitment/Selection i.e. by inviting applications from all eligible Advocates (with minimum 15 years of practice) as well as serving/ex-Sessions Judges, then the undersigned reserves right to take recourse to all available legal remedies available in the matter by invoking Writ Jurisdiction of Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court including by way of instituting Public Interest Litigation (PIL).