[24. Public Prosecutors.—
(1) For every High Court, the Central Government or the State Government shall, after consultation with the High Court, appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors, for conducting in such Court, any prosecution, appeal or other proceeding on behalf of the Central Government or State Government, as the case may be.
(2) The Central Government may appoint one or more Public Prosecutors for the purpose of conducting any case or class of cases in any district or local area.
(3) For every district, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor and may also appoint one or more Additional Public Prosecutors for the district:
Provided that the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor appointed for one district may be appointed also to be a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, for another district.
(4) The District Magistrate shall, in consultation with the Sessions Judge, prepare a panel of names of
persons, who are, in his opinion fit to be appointed as Public Prosecutors or Additional Public Prosecutors
for the district.
(5) No person shall be appointed by the State Government as the Public Prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor for the district unless his name appears in the panel of names prepared by the District
- Ins. by Act 25 of 2005, s. 2 (w.e.f. 23-6-2006).
- Subs. by Act 45 of 1978, s. 8, for s. 24 (w.e.f. 18-12-1978). 29
Magistrate under sub-section (4).
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (5), where in a State there exists a regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers, the State Government shall appoint a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor only from among the persons constituting such Cadre:
Provided that where, in the opinion of the State Government, no suitable person is available in such
Cadre for such appointment that Government may appoint a person as Public Prosecutor or Additional
Public Prosecutor, as the case may be, from the panel of names prepared by the District Magistrate under
sub-section (4). 1
[Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section,—
(a) “regular Cadre of Prosecuting Officers” means a Cadre of Prosecuting Officers which includes therein the post of a Public Prosecutor, by whatever name called, and which provides for promotion of Assistant Public Prosecutors, by whatever name called, to that post;
(b) “Prosecuting Officer” means a person, by whatever name called, appointed to perform the functions of a Public Prosecutor, an Additional Public Prosecutor or an Assistant Public Prosecutor under this Code.]
(7) A person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public
Prosecutor under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) or sub-section (6), only if he has
been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years.
(8) The Central Government or the State Government may appoint, for the purposes of any case or
class of cases, a person who has been in practice as an advocate for not less than ten years as a Special
Public Prosecutor: 2
[Provided that the Court may permit the victim to engage an advocate of his choice to assist the
prosecution under this sub-section.]
(9) For the purposes of sub-section (7) and sub-section (8), the period during which a person has been
in practice as a pleader, or has rendered (whether before or after the commencement of this Code) service
as a Public Prosecutor or as an Additional Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor or other
Prosecuting Officer, by whatever name called, shall be deemed to be the period during which such person
has been in practice as an advocate.] - Assistant Public prosecutors.—(1) The State Government shall appoint in every district one or
more Assistant Public Prosecutors for conducting prosecutions in the Courts of Magistrates. 3
[(1A) The Central Government may appoint one or more Assistant Public Prosecutors for the purpose of conducting any case or class of cases in the Courts of Magistrates.]
(2) Save as otherwise provided in sub-section (3), no police officer shall be eligible to be appointed as an Assistant Public Prosecutor.
(3) Where no Assistant Public Prosecutor is available for the purposes of any particular case, the District Magistrate may appoint any other person to be the Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of that case:
Provided that a police officer shall not be so appointed—
(a) if he has taken any part in the investigation into the offence with respect to which the accused is
being prosecuted; or
(b) if he is below the rank of Inspector.