Aastha Thakur
Published on: 26 August 2022 at 23:19 IST
The Allahabad High Court heard a PIL application challenging the recent appointments of state law officers, alleging that the process was not transparent.
The Bench, comprising of Justices Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Shree Prakash Singh, stressed upon those reformative changes in the system of selection and appointment of the State Law Officers and also remarked that the process should be more objective and transparent.
The top court also noted that the UP State had not taken any steps to improve the level of selection and appointment system of the State Law Officers, which needed to be more transparent, fair, and objective.
The top court has also ordered all the states to reform their systems of selection and appointment to make them more transparent, fair, and objective. The court also reiterated the same here:
“The directions by Hon’ble Supreme Court for reforming the system of selection and appointment of Government Advocates with a view to make the same more transparent, fair and objective, was issued way back on 30.03.2016 in the case of Brijeshwar Singh Chahal (supra).”
“More than six and half years have elapsed since then, however, no concrete steps appear to be in sight which the State Government might have taken to reform the system of selection and appointment of the State Law Officers“
Keeping this in view, the HC also asked the State Government to file the counter affidavit/statement within 6 weeks, stating the new improvements/proposed ideas taken for ensuring the observations and directions given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court are implemented in their true spirit.
The Court further ordered that, “The affidavit to be submitted under this order shall give a complete scheme of selection and appointment of Government Advocates which shall ensure the process to be more transparent, fair and objective.“
Furthermore, the Court asked the government to provide their insights regarding all the aspects of the selection and appointment of the government advocates, coupled with a guarantee of more transparency and that they function more objectively.
The PIL was placed before the Court by Advocates Rama Shankar Tiwari, Shashank Kumar Shukla, and Arvind Kumar through Advocates Alok Kirti Mishra and D.K. Tripathi, pointing out that the selection of 220 newly appointed officers is not up to scratch and many of them have political and judicial connections too.
It was also alleged by them that the appointments were based on the recommendations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Although the UP government assured it would adhere to the guidelines provided by the Apex court in the State of Punjab vs. Brijeshwar Singh Chahal and streamline the work of the State Counsel at different levels, the result is contrary to this.
The Court observed that it shares the concern of the petitioners that, “While filing the affidavit, the endeavour of the State Government, in our opinion, should be to ensure that the process to be evolved henceforth does not lack transparency and objectivity.”