Allahabad HC orders recovery of amount paid to additional advocate general

The Allahabad High Court has ordered to recover the amount paid to an additional advocate general, asking how could he raise two bills, one for representing the state as the AAG and the other from a development authority in a case.Taking a serious note of it, the High Court said it is tax payers money which cannot be misused.

The Allahabad High Court has ordered to recover the amount paid to an additional advocate general, asking how could he raise two bills, one for representing the state as the AAG and the other from a development authority in a case.

Taking a serious note of it, the High Court said ''it is tax payers’ money which cannot be misused''. Hearing a contempt petition filed by Ishan International Educational Society through its director, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal observed, ''In the present case, if two bills are raised by the one counsel, one from the state side and other from the development authority, it shows his misconduct.'' How a counsel could raise two bills, one for representing the state as Additional Advocate General and other from the Ghaziabad Development Authority, the court asked.

The court also directed the UP chief secretary to apprise it of the working of the state law department and place the matter before the cabinet for taking appropriate action and make a draft plan as to how the working is to be improved regarding the state counsel. In addition to it, the court also directed the chief secretary to further tell the state cabinet whether there is any requirement of having so many additional advocate generals (AAGs) and chief standing counsels at the Allahabad High Court and its Lucknow Bench to defend the state when there are more than 400 state lawyers already empanelled.

''Thereafter, the cabinet may take decision, as required, in the best interest of the state,'' the court added.

The court also directed the chief secretary to intimate the progress made in the aforesaid matter to the Registrar General of this court within two months.

This court also finds that in important matters most of these additional advocate generals and chief standing counsel are not appearing and the cases are going unrepresented on behalf of the state and their only interest is in appearing in the matters of development authorities and corporations.

The court also brought to the notice of the UP government that there is a lot of outsourcing of lawyers on behalf of the state and its various authorities and corporations, and a big amount of tax payers money is being used.

''The appearance of lawyers not from the panel of the state shows that the lawyers empanelled with the state do not have much competence to defend the state and its authorities and corporations,'' the court said in its decision dated May 31.