lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung has asked the Delhi Government to revoke its order immediately to appoint 15 lawyers while refusing to give his post-facto approval on the appointment of these advocates, setting another stage for fresh round of tussle between the l-G and the AAP dispensation.
Jung has returned the file pertaining to the issue to Delhi law Minister Manish Sisodia and asked him to revoke the Government’s order to appoint three advocates on record and 12 arguing counsels for the SC.
The Government had appointed these lawyers without prior approval of the l-G in 2014 and 2015, said sources.
“MHA had sought opinion from the law Ministry which suggested that such appointment is only made by Central law agency. The l-G office had also suggested the same. The l-G has returned the file pertaining to appointment of 15 lawyers to the Government and asked the law Minister to revoke the order in this regard,” sources said.
The l-G office and the city Government have been at loggerheads on range of issues in the past including transfer and posting of officers.
last December, the AAP Government had issued the order on appointment of three advocates-on-record and 12 advocates for the arguing panel of the Supreme Court. The order had stated that advocate-on-record shall be paid a fixed remuneration of Rs 90,000 per month. It had further said advocates-on-record may also be paid drafting fee of Rs 7,500 for each case.
A person can be registered as an advocate on record if s/he meets the requirements as laid down in the Supreme Court of India Rules, 1966. If a lawyer wants to practice as an advocate-on-record in the Supreme Court s/he needs an additional qualification. The advocate has to practice for four years as an advocate and thereafter has to intimate to the SC that s/he has started taking training with a senior advocate-on-record because s/he intends to become an advocate-on-record.
After one year training, the advocate has to appear for an examination conducted by the Supreme Court itself. Once an advocate passes this examination, s/he must have a registered office within a radius of 10 miles from the Supreme Court building and a registered clerk. It is after this that the chamber judge of the Supreme Court accepts the person as an advocate-on-record.