Three lawyers practicing in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court have moved a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the recent appointment of State law officers whose list was announced on August 1. The petitioners claimed that the appointments were done on the recommendation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and that some of the new appointees were relatives of politicians and judicial officers in the State.
The petitioners — Rama Shankar Tiwari, Shashank Kumar Shukla and Arvind Kumar — have demanded the quashing of the list of State law officers and brief holders (civil and criminal) appointed by the State earlier this month. The petition filed by advocates Alok Kirti Mishra and D.K. Tripathi claimed that the impugned list had been published in violation of the guidelines issued in the case of State of Punjab vs. Brijeshwar Singh Chahal.
The petition filed on August 18 was reported with some shortcomings and was finally cleared on Monday. It said that in the list of 220 legal officers, some were relatives of politicians and judicial officers and few were juniors or followers of Additional Advocate Generals in the Lucknow High Court or the High Court of Allahabad.
‘Illegal, arbitrary’
“We believe the list was prepared by the RSS and only members of the RSS/office-bearers have been appointed by the government,” said the petitioner’s lawyer Mr. Mishra, who added that the discrimination was illegal and arbitrary.
The plea alleged that neither any committee was constituted nor any information was given and the appointments were made in illegal and arbitrary manner. Also, most of the appointed officers had not completed five years of practice, which was against the rule.
The petitioners claimed that some advocates who were not in regular practice had been appointed. They sought the quashing of the impugned list of law officers and an inquiry into the irregularities.
