Jharkhand High Court
Court On Its Own Motion vs State Of Jharkhand on 20 July, 2016
Author: Virender Singh
Bench: Virender Singh, Shree Chandrashekhar
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P. (PIL). No. 2774 of 2013
with
W.P. (PIL) No. 3114 pf 2012
with
W.P.(PIL) No. 638 of 2015
Court On its Own Motion.................. Petitioner (In W.P.(PIL) 2774/13)
Sabhapati Prasad Kushwaha.............. Petitioner (In W.P.(PIL) 3114/12)
Court On its Own Motion.................. Petitioner (In W.P.(PIL) 638/15)
Versus
State of Jharkhand & Others............ Respondents (In all the cases)
......
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIRENDER SINGH, CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SHREE CHANDRASHEKHAR
......
For the Petitioner : Mr. Manoj Tondon, Amicus Curiae
[In WP (PIL) Nos. 2774/13 & 638/15]
For the Petitoiner : Ms. Vipul Divya, Advocate
[In WP (PIL) No. 3114/12]
For the State : Mr. Jai Prakash, A.A.G.
Mr. Binod Singh, S.C (L & C)
Mr. V.K.Singh, JC to SC (L & C)
For the respondent-JSSC : Mr. Sohail Anwar, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Tejo Mistri, Advocate
For the respondent-JPSC : Mr. Rajesh Shankar, Advocate
......
Order No. 26 /Dated : 20th July, 2016
Per Virender Singh, C.J. :
1. Pursuant to the last order dated 15 th June, 2016 Mr. N.N.Pandey, Home Secretary, Government of Jharkhand and Ms. Suman Gupta, Inspector General of Police (Prison) have come present. An application has been filed on behalf of the Chief Secretary of the State seeking exemption to appear today carving out the valid reason of being out of station with the Hon'ble Chief Minister of the State.
2. Mr. Jai Prakash, learned Additional Advocate General, on instructions of the Officials who are present in the Court today, makes a statement at the Bar that 31 Doctors are already in place in all 24 Jails out of which 10 Doctors have been appointed regularly whereas 21 Doctors are placed on deputation. According to Mr. Jai Prakash, this caters the need of the under-trials/convicts patients in the Jail. He further states that 13 Jail 2 Superintendents have been posted permanently whereas 15 are on deputation on additional charge; they are Executive Magistrates/Deputy Collectors and have been directed to visit the Jails of their respective Districts regularly. In addition to it, 09 more Jail Superintendents have been appointed through Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and they are likely to be given posting after imparting training to them very shortly. 29 Probation Officers have also been appointed and are being imparted training and the moment their training is over, they will be posted in different Jails of the State.
3. So far as appointment of Assistant Jailers is concerned, Jharkhand State Staff Selection Commission has already conducted preliminary examination and that the main examination is likely to be held in near future although the date for the same has not been fixed by the Commission as yet. However, Jail Clerks already deputed are handling the post of the Assistant Jailers on temporary basis till the regular appointments are made.
4. With regard to appointment of Warders, Jharkhand State Staff Selection Commission has conducted the main examination on 10 th of the instant month. Meanwhile, certain Ex-servicemen from the Army have been selected/picked up for the purpose of functioning as Warders on contractual basis. It is in the shape of out-sourceing.
5. With regard to the post of Lab Assistant/X-ray Technician, out of 11, 6 are already posted on contractual basis. Rules in this regard have been approved by the Cabinet and notified also and process for appointment of all the 11 posts shall be initiated without any further waste of time by the State.
Similar is the position with regard to the Dresser/Compounder, in which 13 are posted on contractual basis and the same Rule shall govern their appointments also.
6. In 21 Prisons, female Doctors have been deputed and they are 3 accompanied with female Nurses. Mr. Jai Prakash also informs the Court that at present there are as many as 840 female inmates in the jails of the State as under-trial prisoners/convicts.
7. There are 5 Central Jails in the State viz. Birsa Munda Central Jail, Ranchi, Central Jail, Hazaribagh, Central Jail, Dumka, Central Jail, Medininagar, Palamau and Central Jail, Ghagidih, Jamshedpur. There is a concept of female Jail and the State of Jharkhand contemplated in the year 2003 itself that there should be a Jail in the State exclusively for female prisoners but till date no action has been taken in the positive directions. It would be most appropriate if all these female inmates (under-trials/convicts) are distributed in all the Central Jails to start with. This, in turn, would facilitate the State to provide the best medical care to the female inmates. An early action is required in this regard at the end of the State.
8. So far as appointment of Computer Operator in the Jails is concerned, all the 28 posts have since been filled on contractual basis (out- sourcing). Similarly, 27 posts of Video Conferencing Operator have been filled and they have been sent to all the 24 Jails of the State and the remaining posts shall also be filled up at an early date. Jail Inspectorate Web Site has already been made functional and is available to one and all.
9. We appreciate the endeavour taken by the State in this regard.
10. Mr. Manoj Tondon, learned Amicus Curiae, who is taking all the pains to assist the Court throughout, the matter being of very important nature, states that whatever is stated by learned A.A.G, at the Bar with regard to filling up of the vacancies, maximum of them are of interim in nature, therefore, it is expected of the State to initiate the process for making permanent appointments so that the Court should not intervene on each and every occasion to know about the filling of the posts. He further states that maximum of the problems with regard to Jail reforms can be solved, if the 4 Jail Manual, 2016, draft of which was sent by the Central Government to the State Government, is finalized without any waste of time and that the earlier Jail Manual is replaced by the new one.
11. Mr. Jai Prakash while responding, stated that the State has already prepared the draft and in the process for its finalization, which, in turn, would go to the Cabinet for its approval. He states that he will be apprising the Court about its development also on the next date of hearing.
12. We defer consideration of the instant petition for six weeks at least. List again on 31.08.2016 (Wednesday).
13. Personal appearance of Home Secretary and the Inspector General of Police (Prison) is exempted till further orders.
14. Copy of the order shall be provided to learned counsel for both the sides under the seal and signature of the Court Master during the course of the day.
(Virender Singh, C.J) (Shree Chandrashekhar, J) Mukund/LAK 5