Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, Allahabad High Court
If Overburdened, Don’t Accept Briefs: Allahabad High Court Orders Removal Of Chief Standing Counsel From Panel For Non-Appearance
|The direction comes in response to his non-appearance in a revenue matter listed before the Court.
The Allahabad High Court has directed the immediate removal of Chief Standing Counsel from the panel of the Kanpur Development Authority (KDA).
The direction comes in response to his non-appearance in a revenue matter listed before the Court, despite being allotted such matters as part of his official responsibilities.
A Bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal held, “The Vice-Chairman, Kanpur Development Authority is hereby directed to remove (...), Advocate, from panel counsel and appoint some responsible counsel who at least appears in the Court.” (name withheld)
The case was called for hearing with Senior Advocate Atul Dayal, appearing for the petitioner, while notice had been accepted by Advocate on behalf of respondent Nos. 1 to 3. However, he failed to appear, instead delegating the matter to his junior colleague, who was present in Court.
The Court observed that since he holds the responsibility for revenue matters and had formally accepted the brief for KDA a semi-governmental body his absence was unacceptable. The Court noted that a delegatee should not have argued the matter, especially when the authority had appointed a dedicated counsel.
The Court ordered the Vice-Chairman of the Kanpur Development Authority to immediately remove Advocate from the panel and appoint a responsible counsel who will ensure appearance in Court. It added, “If (...), Advocate, has so much of work and he is not able to appear in the Court, he should not accept the brief of Kanpur Development Authority which is a semi government body.” (name withheld)
The Court directed that notice be issued to respondent Nos. 1 to 3, and ordered that steps for service be taken both via Registered Post Acknowledgement Due (R.P.A.D.) and the normal mode within ten days. The matter is to be listed on the next date fixed in the notice.
Additionally, the Court directed that a copy of the order be sent to the Principal Secretary (Law) and the Legal Remembrancer, Government of U.P., by the Registrar (Compliance) within 48 hours.
Cause Title: Deepti Sachan v. Special Officer Kanpur Development Authority Kanpur Nagar & Ors.
Appearance:
Petitioner: Senior Advocates Prakash Chandra Dwivedi, Raunak Gupta
Respondents: Advocates (...), Anand Prakash Paul