UP govt bars departments, agencies from engaging private lawyers for cases in HC

Singh said special private counsel would be engaged by departments and other agencies henceforth only in unavoidable circumstances with the prior opinion of the advocate general This comes days after Advocate General ( A.G.) Ajay Kumar Misra wrote to the state government telling it that the practice of engaging special private counsel in the high court and especially in the Lucknow bench has increased of late.

It is noticed that special private counsel are being engaged even in simple cases which can be argued by the already appointed state law officers in the HC, he said in his letter.

“This kind of unnecessary engagement of special private counsel draws heavy burden on public exchequer as the fees of the special private counsel is paid around Rs five lakh per hearing which means if the case got listed three times in a month, the state government would have to cough up Rs fifteen lakh in a month,” the AG had stated in his letter.