Over a year since the Delhi Assembly began hiring lawyers to represent itself in court, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said the payments for the advocates had not been cleared by the State government.
Till last year, Mr. Goel said the Assembly did not need to engage its own lawyers as its decisions were not challenged in court as often as they are now.
2015 notification
In cases where it was taken to court, the Assembly would be represented by the lawyers empanelled by the Delhi government, he said.
However, with the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation losing control over services after a 2015 Ministry of Home Affairs notification was upheld by the High Court in 2016, the appointment of lawyers became another point of conflict.
“The first case where we had to hire our own lawyers was of O.P. Sharma [BJP MLA] and since then there have been cases where government officers have moved court against the Assembly. None of the lawyers have been paid. The file keeps moving between the Finance and Law departments,” said Mr. Goel.
The case Mr. Goel referred to was of Mr. Sharma challenging his suspension from the Assembly for two sessions. The case went on from June 8, 2016 till August 3, 2017, and was fought by senior advocate Sudhir Nandrajog, said Mr. Goel, adding that his payment had not been made so far.
Mr. Nandrajog, who had defended the Speaker’s decision to suspend Mr. Sharma for allegedly making derogatory remarks against AAP MLA Alka Lamba, confirmed to The Hindu that he had not been paid for any of the appearances for the Speaker before the High Court.
Mr. Nandrajog has been representing the Speaker’s office before the High Court on several cases, including the latest petition by three senior Delhi government bureaucrats challenging summons issued to appear in the House for allegedly failing to answer certain questions of legislators.
(With input from
Soibam Rocky Singh)