The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday set a deadline of six weeks for holding the main examination to fill 205 posts of assistant public prosecutor (APP)-cum-assistant government pleader (AGP), and announcement of the exam results.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Ashok S. Kinagi issued the direction while hearing a PIL petition, which was initiated suo motu by the court in September 2019, on the issue of delay in the conduct of the trial in criminal cases due to a large number of vacancies in various posts of prosecutor. The court had found that 40% of the posts of prosecutor was lying vacant in 2019.
The Bench noted that the process of selection of candidates for the 205 posts, initiated way back in 2019, is yet to be completed, and declined to grant more time to the government to complete the examination.
The selection process, initiated by the Directorate of Prosecutions, could not see much progress due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the process commenced with the holding of preliminary exam by the Karnataka Examination Authority in March 2021.
Though around 1,500 candidates who appeared for the preliminary exam were found eligible to appear for the main exam, the directorate could not conduct the main exam till date. The main exam, earlier scheduled for January 2022, was postponed due to increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
When the exam was rescheduled for May 28 and 29, the Karnataka State Bar Council and the Advocates’ Association, Bengaluru, raised objections to the model question paper claiming that candidates from rural areas may not be in a position to comprehend certain types of questions related to constitutional matters, etc.
Following these objections, the recruitment committee on May 24 decided to postpone the main exam again even though the hall tickets were already issued, and requested the NLSIU to revise the question paper format.
