'No stay on fresh engagement of UP lawyers in HC'

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Wednesday said that it did not put any stay on fresh engagement of state lawyers in the high court, following the anxiety of UP advocate-general (AG) Ajay Kumar Mishra that the state government was hesitant to make fresh appointments though there was utter need to make more appointments in view of huge work in the high court.
A bench of Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Saurabh Srivastava passed the order on PIL filed by Rama Shanker Tiwari and few other local lawyers, seeking court's interference to make the engagement process of state lawyers better and more transparent.
Hearing the PIL, the bench had on August 24, 2022, directed principal secretary, law to file his personal affidavit detailing the selection process and also whether the Supreme Court's guidelines set in 2016 in Brijeshwar Singh Chahal case were being followed.
Filing the detailed personal affidavit of the principal secretary, law in the court on Wednesday, the AG assisted by chief standing counsel (first) Prashant Singh Atal argued that the HC in 2017 framed guidelines in Mahendra Singh Pawar case, holding that the guidelines set by the SC were not meant for UP. "In compliance of aforesaid order passed in Pawar case, the state government has been making the appointment since 2017 by constituting a committee headed by advocate-general and as such it cannot be inferred that the selection of state lawyers is not fair," argued Mishra.
Mishra also expressed before the bench that due to order passed by the court on August 24, 2022 , the state government was finding itself in a tight spot in finalising appointment of state lawyers.
The bench clarified that neither in its earlier order nor in the present one it has prohibited the state government from making fresh appointments.
Fixing the next hearing on January 30, 2023, the bench asked the petitioners' counsel Alok Kirti Mishra to file rejoinder affidavit to better the selection process.