Face2News/Chandigarh –

Believe it or not, but it is actually true that recently two dozen regular serving Law Officers in Home Department of Haryana Government, whose official designation is however District Attorney (DA) have got a bumper/hefty hike in their salary due to State Government granting them unprecedented benefit of double promotion in a single go i.e. straightway promoting them as Deputy Director of Prosecution (DDP) by surpassing penultimate post of Assistant Director of Prosecution (ADP).  

The 22 DAs who have thus promoted straightway as DDP are 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. 

Before promotion as DDP, all the aforementioned DAs were in the Functional Pay Level (FPL)-12 which corresponds to scale of Rs. 78,800 – Rs 1,97,200. Now as DDP they are placed directly in FPL-14 corresponding to Rs.1,23,100 – Rs 2,09,600. Interestingly, they have jumped FPL-13 which corresponds to Rs.88,400 - Rs 2,02,600 and which is for the post of ADP. 

Undoubtedly, this is not only the highest ever Salary Hike coupled with benefit of double (i.e. two step up) promotion in a single go for any category of Group A officers in the history of Haryana Government, a privilege which till date has not even been doled out to elite IAS or HCS officers in the State Bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court has recently shot off a legal notice to Haryana Government protesting against the aforementioned promotion of 22 DAs straightway to post of DDP since it has resulted in causing grave injustice to Advocates indulged in private practice since they have been completely deprived of the opportunity to even compete for appointment to posts of DDP although Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sahita (BNSS), 2023 as enacted by Parliament and which is applicable across the country with effect from 1 July 2024 indeed makes such Advocates eligible for post of DDP. 

The Advocate has asserted in his legal notice that Section 20 of BNSS, 2023 which deals with establishment of Directorate of Prosecution also provides that a person shall be eligible to be appointed as Director of Prosecution (DoP) or DDP, if he has been in practice as an Advocate for not less than fifteen years or is or has been a Sessions Judge. 

Meanwhile, the Home Department of Haryana Government on 18 Dec 2025 amended its Haryana State Prosecution Department Legal Services (Group A) Rules, 2013 and made provisions for appointment to post of DDP by way of Promotion from those who have worked as ADP for a period of not less than two years. 

Now since before implementation of BNSS, 2023 there has been no post of ADP, hence it has been further provided that if no ADP with requisite experience is available, being newly created post, then the post may be filled up on seniority-cum-merit basis from amongst District Attorneys, having total experience of 15 years i.e. not only as DA but as well as Deputy District Attorney (DDA), i.e. a post one step below DA.  

Be that as it may, since for appointment to the posts of DDP, suitable Advocates who are indulged in private practice for 15 or more years have been completely deprived/ousted from even being considered for appointment to posts of DDP due to their non-inclusion in Dec, 2025 amended Service Rules, as there is no provision for making Direct Recruitment for the post of DDP, it has resulted in causing grave injustice to private Advocates as Haryana Government has denied them the opportunity which has been bestowed upon them by none other than Parliament of India. 

The Advocate has asserted in his Legal Notice that if the aforementioned 22 DAs who have been straightway promoted as DDP are not reverted to their erstwhile posts and further if all newly created/duly sanctioned posts of DDP are not filled up in strict and meticulous compliance of Section 20(2)(a) of 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 Advocate 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).