Madras HC Asks Govt To Appoint Law Officers Within 6 Weeks [Read Order]

The Madras High Court has expressed hope that Tamil Nadu Government will make expeditious appointment to vacant posts of law officers to enable speedy disposal of cases, while underlining that such appointments should be made within six weeks.

The Madurai bench of Madras High Court comprising Justice KK Sasidharan and GR Swaminathan disposed of a PIL moved by Madurai resident R Rajaselvan after it was informed that the government has formed a committee to shortlist the candidates and make appointments, and that the entire process will take at least four weeks.

“Since the Government has already taken action for appointment of Law Officers, there is no need for an adjudication of the issue raised by the petitioner. We hope and trust that the Government would keep up the time schedule and the appointment would be made as expeditiously as possible and in any case, within a period of six weeks from today,” the bench said.

Petitioner R Rajaselvan had moved court seeking direction to the state to appoint government advocates to fill up the existing vacancies of government advocates in both civil and criminal side in the Madurai bench of Madras High Court.

He said because of shortage of law officers, the high court was not in a position to dispose of the cases, criminal cases in particular.

Before the petition was disposed of, the Advocate General informed the court that the government has constituted a committee comprising the principal secretaries to the government from the Public Department, the Home Department and the law department for appointing law officers. The committee is headed by the Advocate General.

He said the committee would shortlist the candidates and thereafter, the names would be sent for verification of their antecedents, followed by verification from the Bar Council to check whether any proceedings were pending against them. The Bar Council would also conduct the verification of the names of the advocates in keeping with the amendments made to the regulations and, thereafter, the appointment would be made by the government.

The PIL pointed out that five posts of government officers were vacant in the criminal side, while 10 such posts were vacant in civil side.

Nearly 1,500 cases are listed for hearing every day in Madurai bench, with 74,469 civil cases, 14,013 criminal cases and 95,344 miscellaneous petitions pending as on December 31, 2016.