"Public prosecutors are different from Company Prosecutors. They are independent, unbiased and impartial while conducting prosecution." Comment.

Criminal cases are prosecuted by the State representing the public and the society. Public prosecutors carry out the prosecution in such cases. The role of a prosecutor lies in placing before the Court all the material and evidences, whether it helps the accused or otherwise. Section 24(7) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 states that a person shall be eligible to be appointed as a Public Prosecutor or an Additional Public Prosecutor only if he has been in practice as an advocate for not less than 7 years. In 'S Thamizharasan v. The State of Tamil Nadu', the Madras High Court held that: "the Office of the Public Prosecutor is a very responsible office and he has an important role to play in the Criminal Justice Delivery System. Public prosecutors are to be independent, unbiased and impartial while conducting prosecution. The Public Prosecutor is not a Police Prosecutor in the sense that he is not a mouthpiece of the Police, for he is not an Advocate engaged by the State to conduct its prosecutions. Therefore, the Prosecutors cannot be allowed to be controlled either administratively or in any other mode by the Police Department. It was further held that "as held repeatedly by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and various High Courts that there should be complete separation of Public Prosecutors, Additional Public Prosecutors, Special Public Prosecutors and Assistant Public Prosecutors from the control or supervision in any form of the Police, as otherwise, such control or supervision would only invade into the independence of the institution of Prosecutors, which would only bring harm to the Criminal Justice Delivery System". As held by Supreme Court in 'Balwant Singh and Ors. v. State of Bihar', Criminal Procedure Code is the only matter of the public prosecutor and he has to guide himself with reference to Criminal Procedure Code only. However, when a Registrar or any other person duly authorized / entitled, to file a complaint for any offence under the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956 files a complaint, the prosecution is conducted in the trial Court by a special category of officers called Company Prosecutors. The company prosecutors have all the powers and privileges of public prosecutors appointed by State Government under section 24 of CrPC. Section 443 of the Companies Act, 2013 provides that notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the Central Government may appoint generally, or for any case, or in any case, or for any specified class of cases in any local area, one or more persons, as company prosecutors for the conduct of prosecutions arising out of this act and the persons so appointed as company prosecutors shall have all the powers and privileges conferred by the Code on Public Prosecutors appointed under section 24 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973.