Jammu, June 24: J&K government on Thursday asked its all departments, Corporations, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and autonomous bodies to refrain from “appointing Standing Counsels on their own.”
Taking a serious note of the practice, the J&K Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, in a circular issued by the Additional Secretary to government Ashish Gupta described it as a “violation of standing instructions.”
The government also directed that they would be represented only by Counsels engaged by the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
A circular issued by the Judicial Administrative Section of the department said that a “centralised mechanism for engagement/appearance of Standing Counsels… would be-fit coordination and accountability and also improve the quality of representation before various Courts in the UT.”
“It has been observed that some government departments, Corporations, Public Sector Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are appointing Standing Counsels on their own and Advocates, who have not been engaged by Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, are appearing in their cases, which is in violation of standing instructions on the subject. This has been viewed seriously by the authorities,” read the circular.
It added that a centralised mechanism for engagement/appearance of Standing Counsels for all the government departments, Corporations, Public Sector Undertakings and autonomous bodies would be-fit coordination and accountability and also improve the quality of representation before various Courts in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“All the Government Departments, Corporations, Public Sector Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall be represented only by Counsels engaged by Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (Senior Additional Advocates General, Additional Advocates General, Deputy Advocates General, Government Advocates and Standing Counsels),” the circular read.
“It is accordingly impressed upon all government departments, Corporations, Public Sector Undertakings and Autonomous Bodies to abstain from appointing Standing Counsels on their own and in case of any difficulty, a requisition may be made to Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for engagement of counsels for their cases pending before various forums. The Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs in consultation with the Learned Advocate General, shall provide the services of Counsels (Senior Additional Advocates General, Additional Advocates General, Deputy Advocates General, Government Advocates and Standing Counsels) engaged by it (the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs),” the Circular further read.