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  Government asked to withdraw notification

Government asked to withdraw notification

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jun 30, 2016, 1:59 am IST
Updated : Jun 30, 2016, 1:59 am IST

In a move that could spark another face-off between chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant- governor Najeeb Jung, Raj Niwas has directed the AAP government to immediately withdraw its notificat

In a move that could spark another face-off between chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant- governor Najeeb Jung, Raj Niwas has directed the AAP government to immediately withdraw its notification on appointment of panels of advocates-on-record and arguing counsel for the Supreme Court.

The L-G’s order follows directions from the Union home ministry which has termed the city administration notification as illegal. In an official communication, L-G’s secretary S.C.L. Das has conveyed the AAP government that the MHA, after getting the matter examined from the law ministry, had concluded that the notification was illegal and the same should be withdrawn. He said: “Considering the provisions under Part VII of the Constitution coupled with GNCTD Act 1991, the exercise of the executive power by the state government is limited, and in the present case the executive power having already been exercised by the Central government in appointing the advocates-on-record and panel counsels, the NCT government’s order is illegal.”

Mr Das said that the L-G has directed the AAP government to immediately withdraw the notification and comply with the MHA orders forthwith. Following the city government’s notification, the L-G had earlier written to the MHA to declare it null and void ab initio as the same had not been issued in accordance with the set procedures.

The AAP government had issued the order of appointment of three advocates-on-record and 12 lawyers in December last year. The order issued by additional secretary Ravi Dadhich said that after careful consideration the government had decided a panel of advocate-on-record and panel of arguing counsels to represent the city government in the apex court. The order said that Chirag M. Shroff, Atul Kumar and Jagjit Singh Chhabra would be advocate-on-record and Siddhartha Dave, Manav Gupta, Kuldip Singh, Amarjit Singh Bedi, Gurmehar Singh Sistani, Yashvardhan, Sunil Sharma, Karuna Nandy, Aishwarya Rao, Naveen R. Nath, Niraj Gupta and Charu Walikhanna will be the government’s arguing counsels. It had also specified that advocates-on-record would be paid a fixed remuneration of `90,000 per month and may also be paid drafting fee of `7,500 for each case. A person can be registered as an advocate-on-record if he or she qualifies the requirements as laid down in the Supreme Court of India rules 1966.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi