The Allahabad High Court has issued a series of significant directives to the Uttar Pradesh government, the Director General of Police (DGP), and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to expedite the implementation of the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS). The Court has directed the Chief Secretary of U.P. to nominate an IPS officer as a nodal officer for data integration and has ordered the state police to transmit instructions in bail matters via email to the Joint Director (Prosecution) instead of the time-consuming manual “Pairokar” system.
In the case of Ratvar Singh vs. State of U.P., the Single Bench of Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal addressed the systemic delays in obtaining instructions for bail applications. The Court observed that despite the technological advancements and the existence of the ICJS project since 2009, the process of obtaining instructions remains manual and inefficient. Consequently, the Court directed the appointment of a nodal officer to ensure seamless data integration and ordered the immediate adoption of electronic modes for transferring instructions to the High Court’s prosecution office.
Background
The matter arose during the hearing of a bail application where the learned Additional Government Advocate (AGA) informed the Court that instructions had not been received from the concerned police station despite a notice being served earlier.
To understand the delay, the Court summoned the Incharge Joint Director (Prosecution), High Court Allahabad, who explained the prevailing manual procedure. Currently, bail notices are physically handed over to a “Pairokar” of the district police, who travels to the Government Advocate’s office daily. The Pairokar then takes the notice to the district police office, which distributes it to the police station. The Investigating Officer (I.O.) then manually collects the case diary or prepares comments, which are sent back to the High Court through the Pairokar.
On November 20, 2025, the Court observed that this manual process takes considerable time, often more than two weeks, whereas direct access to the ICJS portal could provide the necessary information within a few hours. The Court noted that while District Courts have access to the CCTNS portal, the Government Advocate’s office at the High Court lacks direct access to police portals or the criminal history database (DCRB/SCRB).
Submissions and Explanations
In pursuance of the Court’s earlier order, senior officials appeared via video conferencing to assist the Court:
- Sri Naveen Arora, Additional Director General (Technical), U.P.: He informed the Court that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is the nodal agency for ICJS, with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) as the technology partner. He stated that the police have no role except assisting these agencies and that “ICJS-2.0 will be launched within a few months,” which would resolve problems regarding obtaining data.
- Sri Shashi Kant Sharma, Deputy Director General, NIC, New Delhi: He suggested that as a stopgap arrangement until ICJS 2.0 is fully implemented, access could be given to the Joint Director (Prosecution) to fetch required data. He also assured the Court that he would request NIC, Pune to add a service in the e-court portal regarding the filing status of charge sheets.
- Sri P.C. Meena, Director General of Prison, U.P.: He informed the Court that District Jail Superintendents have been instructed to make entries of inmates on the e-prison portal to facilitate electronic release orders.
The Joint Director (Prosecution) submitted that his office is severely understaffed, with only five persons managing the entire workload. He stated that if five more staff members were provided, his office could effectively provide up-to-date information to the Courts.
Court’s Analysis and Observations
The Court expressed deep concern over the delay in the ICJS project, noting that “thousands of crores have been earmarked for this project and more than 16 years have been passed but this project is still slow in progress.”
Justice Deshwal observed that the ICJS is designed to implement the principle of “One Data One Entry,” integrating police, courts, jails, forensic labs, and prosecution. The Court pointed out that due to the non-implementation of ICJS, specific legal provisions are being violated:
- Gangsters Act: Rule 5 of the U.P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Rules, 2021 mandates uploading gang charts on ICJS and CCTNS, which is currently not being done.
- BNSS: Rule 31(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Rules, 2024 provides for the service of summons through ICJS, which is also hampered.
The Court termed the manual transfer of instructions through Pairokars as “nothing but wastage of time of police personnel and public money.”
Regarding the coordination gap, the Court noted, “It appears that till date the concerned IT/computer section of High Court has not taken any step to apprise the State Government to appoint an IPS Officer as desired by the e-committee, Supreme Court.”
Decision and Directions
The Court issued the following key directions to ensure the effective implementation of ICJS and streamline the bail process:
- Appointment of Nodal IPS Officer: The Court directed the Chief Secretary, U.P. to nominate Sri Mohd. Irfan Ansari (IPS), who is already working as a nodal officer at Allahabad High Court, or any other suitable IPS officer, to work as instrumental for the integration of data available on the ICJS platform as desired by the e-committee of the Supreme Court.
- Electronic Transfer of Instructions: The Director General of Police, U.P. was directed to issue necessary instructions to send bail and criminal matter instructions to the Joint Director (Prosecution) through electronic mode on his email ID (jdhcprosecutionah-UP@nic.in) instead of the manual Pairokar system.
- Staffing for Prosecution Office: The Chief Secretary, U.P. was directed to ensure sufficient staff is provided to the office of the Joint Director (Prosecution), High Court Allahabad, to enable proper functioning and implementation of ICJS.
- NCRB Action: The Director General, NCRB, New Delhi was directed to take immediate steps for the effective implementation of the ICJS project in U.P.
The Court recorded its appreciation for the assistance rendered by Sri Naveen Arora (ADG Technical), Sri Shashi Kant Sharma (NIC), and Sri P.C. Meena (DG Prison).
On the specific merit of the bail application, the matter was adjourned to December 18, 2025, to allow the A.G.A. to produce a supplementary injury report.
Case Details:
- Case Title: Ratvar Singh vs. State of U.P.
- Case No.: Criminal Misc. Bail Application No. 41021 of 2025
- Judge: Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal
- Counsel for Applicant: Saurabh Pandey
- Counsel for Opposite Party: Akhilesh Kumar Yadav, G.A.
