Keeping its promise, the Arvind Kejriwal government has taken a big step in transparent governance by appointing its standing counsel for the Delhi High Court through invitation of applications through ads and interview – something which has not been done for years.
This, perhaps, is the first occasion in a decade when applications for the top government lawyer’s post were invited through newspaper and online advertisements, a formal process of laying down criteria and interview, said a law department official.
Advocate Raman Duggal was appointed as standing counsel to represent the Delhi government in civil matters in the Delhi High Court. He will head a team of eight additional standing counsel.
“The standing counsel was selected after a rigorous eight-hour interview process by a three-member panel,” said an official, pointing to the allegedly dubious practices in other states of appointing politically-well connected lawyers as government counsel.
“In Punjab, hundreds of government counsel were appointed without any test or laying down of criteria. The Punjab and Haryana High Court is now hearing a petition questioning these appointments,” said an official, adding that the Delhi government had taken utmost care of picking the most suitable candidate through a transparent and open process. The advertisement for empanelment of standing counsel and additional standing counsel was issue on March 24 with April 7 as the last date of application.
800 applicationsSources said about 800 applications were received and out of these a shortlist was prepared for interaction with the selection committee that included Principal Secretary (Law and Justice), Home Secretary and the Law Minister. A final background check of Duggal indicated his strong anti-corruption antecedents. In September 2000, Raman had appeared for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in the high court and told the judge in a case related to unauthorised constructions and alleged corruption that “if we take any action against junior engineers, there will be none left. The officials take money and that is a ground reality”.
This factually correct statement by Duggal invited trouble for him from the civic agency which initiated action against him.
The court offered a shield to Duggal for saying the truth and issued contempt of court notice to MCD officials.
Apart from Duggal’s appointment, advocates Sanjoy Ghose, Gautam Narayan, Devesh Singh, Satyakam, Peeyoosh Kalra, Anuj Aggarwal, Naushad Ahmed Khan and Santosh Kumar Tripathi have been appointed as Additional Standing Counsel.
The names of advocates for appointment of standing counsel for civil cases were cleared by the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on May 1 after his meeting with controversial Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar, the Chief Secretary and the Home Secretary.