Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Monday directed Maharashtra govt to submit a progress report on recruitment to fill vacancies in the state’s prisons within 15 days. It stressed the need to expedite the process after General Administration Department approved a proposal to revise staffing patterns.The direction was issued by a division bench comprising Justices Urmila Joshi-Phalke and Nivedita Mehta while hearing two criminal writ petitions filed by an undertrial, Sachin Chandramani Lone, through counsel Ratna Singh and Mohammed Sheikh, where senior counsel Firdos Mirza was appointed as amicus curiae.The court considered an affidavit filed by Sugriv Dhapate, joint secretary, Home Department, stating that General Administration Department had issued a Govt Resolution on May 5, 2026, to rationalise and reform recruitment across govt cadres.The State informed that the staffing proposal has now been approved and that the revised recruitment rules would be notified after obtaining concurrence from Finance Department. The bench also took on record a communication dated Aug 3, 2026, submitted by Home Department.During the hearing, Mirza drew the court’s attention to recent directions issued by Supreme Court in a pending prison reforms case, seeking comprehensive information from all States and Union Territories on prison capacity, overcrowding, women’s prisons, facilities for children residing with women prisoners, sanctioned staff strength, vacancies and measures to fill them.Taking note of the developments before Supreme Court as well as State’s approval of the revised staffing proposal, the high court directed govt to take the recruitment process forward effectively and place an updated status report before it within 15 days. The matter has been posted for further hearing on Aug 25.In the last hearing in Dec 2025, additional chief secretary (Appeals & Security) Radhika Rastogi told the court that recruitment rules for multiple posts were under revision on the directions of General Administration Department. Because the revised rules require approvals from the GAD, Law and Judiciary Department, Maharashtra Public Service Commission, chief minister and governor, Rastogi said that ‘a period of two years will be required’ to complete recruitment for posts dependent on the updated rules.“All 1,094 posts will be filled by Dec 2027,” she assured.
