6 Jan 2010

Can lawyer insist to be continued?

In a matter which has now reached Supreme Court, an interesting issue is involved: can a lawyer insist to be continued by the client? The matter reached Supreme Court in view of a decision passed by the High Court of Allahabad in a writ petition filed by a lawyer representing the State Government whose tenure was not renewed by the Government. The High Court had declared that the "government counsel has a right to be considered for renewal for his term". The High Court further held as under;

The District Government Counsel cannot be removed nor his functioning can be interfered unless renewal is considered in accordance with the procedure prescribed by taking into account the report of the District Judge as well as the comments of the District Magistrate and appropriate orders are passed refusing renewal.
Being of this view, the High Court set aside the order of the State Government deciding not to renew the term as it found "established that the State Government did not consider the case of the petitioner at any point of time for renewal of his term and had not taken into consideration the recommendations made by the District Judge and the report submitted by the District Magistrate". The High Court further declared as under;
We are informed that no person has yet been appointed or engaged in place of the petitioner, in view of the interim order passed by this Court, we, therefore, further provide that the petitioner shall be allowed to continue to discharge the functions and duties of the District Government Counsel, till the consideration of the renewal of his term in accordance with law.
This order of the High Court was challenged before the Supreme Court which  chose fit to stay this order and issue notice to the government counsel as to why the order should not be reversed. 




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