VIKRAMADITYA PRASAD,J. - (1.) HEARD the learned Counsel for the petitioner, State and respondent Nos. 3 and 4.
(2.) THE question to be answered in this writ is whether a person whose name has been included in the panel for appointment of Public Prosecutor can be appointed as Additional Public Prosecutor? The question aforesaid arose out of the facts that the District Magistrate, Gumla, prepared a panel after consultation with the District Sessions Judge and sent it to Government for appointment of Public Prosecutor for the district of Gumla vide Annexure -1. In that panel the names of Shri Bhairav Prasad and Shri Akhari Shrikant Prasad appear at serial No. 6 and 4 respectively but it appears that they were, in fact, appointed as Additional Public Prosecutors for the said district vide Annexure -2 of the writ. By now there is no dispute that the recommendations were not made on the basis of the consultation with the District Judge.
(3.) SECTION 24(5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads as follows : 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 Magistrate under Sub -section (4). Sub -section 4 of Section 24 reads as follows : 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 prosecutor or Additional Public Prosecutor for the district. Now a question arises whether two panels are required to be prepared, one for appointment of Public Prosecutor and another for appointment of Additional Public Prosecutor. 4. Public Prosecutor has been defined in Section 2(u) of the Code of Criminal Procedure which reads as follows : 2 (U) 'Public Prosecutor' means any person acting under the direction of a Public Prosecutor : ;