Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 5: Division Bench of High Court comprising Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Puneet Gupta has stayed the order of Writ Court whereby Government was restrained from appointing new Law Officers.
After hearing Advocate General DC Raina with Additional Advocate General Aseem Sawhney for the UT, the DB observed, “when no appointment/engagement of lawyers has been made by the Government, the court exceeded its power of judicial review and to pass a stop-order on the appointments which is apparently without jurisdiction as at one place the court refers the matter to the Chief Justice for treating it as a Public Interest Litigation and at the other makes observations on the merits so as to pass the interim order”.
With these observations, the Division Bench stayed the Writ Court order.
The Writ Court, while passing the order, had observed, “Rules of 2016 only provide for eligibility requirements for being appointed as Advocate General, Additional Advocate Generals, Deputy Advocate Generals and Government Advocates in the High Court, Advocates on Record and Additional Advocate Generals in the Supreme Court of India, Public Prosecutors, Standing Counsels in the High Court and the Subordinate Courts and Special Counsel but the same do not law down any criteria or procedure of selection nor these Rules adhere to the directives and the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Brijeshwar Singh Chahal’s case”.
“In the absence of fair, just and transparent procedure of selection prescribed, the respondents have been indulging in pick and choose method and most of the engagements are motivated by political and other considerations”, the Writ Court had further observed.
Against this order, the Government has filed present appeal.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel