Hire govt lawyers on merit: Panel

Presently, government advocates are appointed at all levels of judiciary

The Expenditure Reforms Commission (ERC) has recommended to the government to seriously consider changing the existing practice of appointing government advocates at all levels of the judiciary.

The appointments have to be made on merit and there can be a written examination to gauge competence and viva to test aptitude.

At present, government advocates are appointed on the recommendation of the advocate general and also of influential politicians. An advocate general himself is appointed at the pleasure of the chief minister.

The ERC had consulted National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, regarding the recommendations it could make pertaining to the Department of Law, Justice and Human Rights and Home (Police).

Based on the suggestions made by NLSIU, the ERC report says that at present there is no provision for any training programmes/refresher courses for government advocates. While the qualification prescribed is 12 years experience for government pleaders, it is 15 years for government advocates. They need to be sufficiently trained. There has to be a strong orientation programme on how to go about in government litigations.

There is a need for arranging refresher courses on subjects like service matters, compensation for land acquisition, the report says.

The remuneration paid to government advocates is not enough to attract talent. The remuneration has to be at least Rs 1.5 lakh a month at the High Court level, demanding the experience. Similarly, the remuneration for the district government pleaders can be increased.

Official sources told Deccan Herald that at present, a government advocate of the High Court gets a retainer fee of Rs 17,000 plus a conveyance allowance of Rs 3,000 a month. In addition, he gets Rs 600 for handling each case.

A State public prosecutor too gets similar remuneration. But, a CBI prosecutor gets a retainer fee of Rs 60,000, besides conveyance allowance. An advocate general gets Rs 50,000 remuneration a month.

The report says that Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) has to be taken seriously. Whenever notices are received by the government departments, efforts will have to be made to see whether it is genuine complaint and objectively sort it out at the department level itself, instead of pushing it to litigation mechanically. Many problems of the people with the government will be sorted out effectively, if this provision of CPC is used properly. This needs authorising a responsible officer in each department to make reasonable and appropriate decisions whenever notices are received under Section 80.

The land acquisition matters appear to constitute nearly 40 per cent of government litigation. Land acquisition officers are to be trained in the skills of negotiation, so that they can negotiate and buy the land after preliminary notification, without any scope for litigation.

Police department

The report, while referring to the Police department, says that the following three points can be fine-tuned: Professionalising the force; modernising the force and humanising it.

Ideally, a separate pay band for the Police department, especially for those working in the lower rank, should be framed. Recruitment is a critical component of professionalising the police.

An independent police recruitment board should be established for regular recruitment of the police personnel below the rank of DySP.

At present, there is only an induction training to the police personnel below the rank of inspectors. This must be enhanced to include the continuing education modules.

Commission’s mandate

The State government had constituted the Expenditure Reforms Commission (ERC) in June 2009 to make recommendations to improve the quality of expenditure.

The Commission, headed by former chief secretary B K Bhattacharya and comprising four other members, submitted four different reports between February 2010 and July 2011, covering major government departments. Mohandas Pai of Infosys, Prof G Ramesh of IIM-B and principal secretaries of Finance and Planning Programme Monitoring and Statistics Departments were its members.

The ERC was constituted as per the legislative mandate under the provisions of Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002. “After several years of successful implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, it is a logical next step for the State to take up the vital issue of Expenditure Reforms with the objective of ensuring that public money invested on the formation of physical and social capital yields optimum returns,” the Government Order on setting up the ERC stated.

The ERC conducted its study in two categories - department-specific issues in project formulation and implementation, and generic issues, such as framework for performance and outcome monitoring, institutional mechanism for service delivery, subsidies and levy of user charges.