Kerala HC approves State's new guidelines for appointment of Public Prosecutors but makes one modification

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday approved the State government's draft guidelines for the appointment of District Government Pleaders, Public Prosecutors and Additional Public Prosecutors, albeit with one modification [Adv Sudheer PS v State of Kerala & ors and connected case].

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar VM opined that a modification must be made so that the District Judge's opinion in such matters is given primacy.

To this end, the Court directed the State to replace the words 'due regard' with 'due primacy' in Clause 3 of the draft circular, ensuring that the opinion of the District Judge was given importance in the selection process.

"After giving anxious consideration to the aforesaid submissions, we feel that the only modification called for is in Clause (3) of the said draft circular where, instead of the expression 'due regard', the expression 'due primacy' shall be used," the Court's order said.

A petitioner before the Court also opposed the inclusion of the District Police Chief in the selection process under the new guidelines.

The Court, however, refused to interfere with the guidelines on this count.

"There is a logic behind it as the inputs of the District Police Chief would benefit the stakeholders to take a conscious decision with regard to the selection of a person," the Court explained.

The Court clarified that the police officer's role was limited to providing inputs regarding the antecedents of candidates and that his opinion would not be determinative in the selection process.

"The opinion of the District Police Chief is not conclusive, but is intended merely to assist the committee to find out the antecedent of the candidate, which, having regard to the importance of the office, should be free from any doubt," it said.

The directions came while considering two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by advocate Sudheer PS and Vishnuprasad Nair that challenged the procedure adopted for appointing public prosecutors in Kerala.

Earlier, on April 9, 2025, Court had passed a judgment on a PIL by Sudheer, directing the government to prepare internal guidelines in accordance with Section 18 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which lays down the statutory procedure for appointing Public Prosecutors.

During the pendency of that petition, the government issued a circular in December 2025, prescribing guidelines for the preparation of selection panels for appointment of public prosecutors.

Subsequently, another PIL was filed by Nair challenging the revised draft guidelines stating that the government failed to give due weightage to the opinion of the District Judge and had improperly introduced the District Police Chief into the consultative process.

An amicus curiae joined in raising concern that Clause 3 of the revised draft failed to give primacy to the opinion of the District Judge while preparing the panel of advocates.

The Court has now ordered a change in the revised draft guidelines so that the District Judge's opinion is given more importance.

The Court proceeded to close the PILs before it after ordering this modification in the proposed guidelines.

"The draft Circular with the modification suggested above is approved," it said.

The petitioners were represented by advocates SK Adhithyan Shahina, Niharika Hema Raj, Noushad, Krishna S Karunakaran and Anu Chandrakumar.

Advocate General K Jaju Babu appeared for the High Court administration.

Senior counsel P Deepak served as the amicus curiae

[Read Judgment]