New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday took note of the increasing number of undertrials languishing in Tihar jail and pulled up the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) for having inefficient lawyers on its panel who never visit jails.
Worried over the increasing inefficiency of lawyers at DLSA, a division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S. Muralidhar said: “Reworking of lawyers panel is the need of the hour. Advocates don’t visit jails, don’t listen to the problems of undertrials, as a result of which many prisoners languish in jails for years together.”

Directing member secretary Asha Menon to change the lawyers’ panel of DLSA, the court said, “You (DLSA) should take feedback from judges as well on the performance of the lawyers in the court.”

DLSA, in its report, had submitted that 2,274 undertrials are currently lodged in the jail.

Delhi Police counsel Meera Bhatia also submitted a status report that said a total 5,844 undertrials are lodged in the jail, in cases where the prescribed imprisonment is for seven years or more.

Noting that 924 appeals are pending before the high court, the bench asked the Registrar General of the high court to suggest ways by which the appeals can be disposed of expeditiously.

The court also asked the police to submit a report on how many undertrials are in jail for petty offences and the duration they have been there by Dec 9, the next date of hearing.

“This is a serious issue and needs to be looked at. We have seen undertrials spend more time in jails for the offences that have less punishment. This is unfair,” the court observed.

The court was hearing a plea by lawyer Manish Khanna, who has filed a Right to Information (RTI) application on the condition of undertrials in Tihar jail.