Apparently, not satisfied with the legal advice of its bureaucrats and the way the statutory documents were being vetted, the AAP Government has started looking for private law practitioners and retired Government officers having requisite law degrees from recognised universities to take up these crucial assignments.
The Government has already put up advertisements inviting applications from practicing advocates having seven years of experience in the Delhi High Court and retired officers with 10 years experience in legislative drafting for rendering legal opinion and vetting of statutory documents respectively.
In one notice, the Government said the Department of law, Justice and legislative affairs required the services of two practicing advocates having put in not less than seven years of practice in the Delhi High Court as full time consultants to render legal opinion on various issues. It, however, made it clear that the engagement would be on a contract basis with a consolidated remuneration of Rs75,000 per month for a period of one year which may be extended for further two years on mutually agreed bases.
The applicants have to apply by March 11.
In another notice, the Government said the law Department required the services of two retired officers having law degree from recognised university with a minimum of 10 years experience in the field of legislative drafting with an excellent service record in the field for the post of consultants for vetting of statutory documents. It said the engagement will be on a contract basis with a consolidated remuneration of Rs50,000 per month or the last pay drawn minus pension with applicable Dearness Allowance. The notice said the engagement will be initially for a period of one year and can be extended for further two years on mutually agreed terms.
The Government has already assigned special secretary C Arvind to vet Cabinet notices and Bills for law Department. It had assigned the job of vetting litigations, notifications and other rules to special secretary Ravi Daddich.
The Government’s decision to hire private hands is based on experience it has had with its officers so far in handling the legal matters. In a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister had said, “I have noticed that vetting of agreements/contracts is not being done by the law Department because of the absence of skilled manpower.
I have also noticed that vetting of statutory orders/notifications etc also gets delayed as the two consultants from the law Department are probably not able to cope up with the volume of work. The problem was extremely acute during the last Assembly Session when many such statutory documents had to be withdrawn by the Departments concerned due to delays of the law Department.”
It was Sisodia who had recommended hiring of practicing advocates and retired officers for vetting non-statutory agreements, contracts and for rendering legal opinion on various issues.