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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court has recently ordered the State Law Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to produce before it the record relating to the process of selection of fresh government counsel.

The bench of Justices Attau Rahman Masoodi and Om Prakash Shukla passed the order in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed last year by three practicing lawyers of the high court against the appointment of state lawyers made in August 2022.

Through the PIL, the petitioner essentially drew court's attention to the system prevalent in Uttar Pradesh relating to the engagement of advocates by the State Government as well as by other State undertakings/instrumentalities.

The petitioners raised their concern about the transparency, fairness, and objectivity in the matter of engagement of state lawyers. 

They claimed that in the last year's appointments, despite giving undertaking repeatedly before the high court to follow and implement the dictum of the Supreme Court in the case of State of Punjab and another vs. Brijeshwar Singh Chahal and another reported in (2016) 6 SCC 1, the State Government had acted in complete derogation of the directions contained in the said judgment.

However, the state government countered that for making recommendations for appointment as State Law Officers, the State Government had constituted a Committee comprising three high-level officers of the State Government, and the appointments by means of the order dated August 1, 2022 were made in view of the recommendation made by the said Committee.

"Appointing a Committee as one-time measure for making recommendation for selection and appointment of the State Law Officers does not, in our considered opinion, appear to constitute any meaningful and concrete step to comply with the judgment 7 and order passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Brijeshwar Singh Chahal (supra)," the high court had noted in its order dated August 24, 2022.

Subsequently, through an order dated December 7, 2022, the high court directed the state government to place before it the entire process to be followed in the future and the procedure adopted on the last three occasions for the engagement of government counsels.

Last week, on September 19, court ordered the state government to file an affidavit in the light of the direction issued in the ultimate paragraph of the order passed by the court on December 7, 2022 before the next date of listing.

"The scheme formulated, if any, shall also be placed before this Court on the next date," court ordered. 

The matter will be next heard on October 5, 2023. 

Case Title: Rama Shankar Tiwari Alias Rama Shankar And Others v. State Of UP and Others