‘Have proper legal framework for legal cell'

Strengthening the Palike's legal capacity will help it get more revenue and increase compliance among the citizens

Deepika Kinhal, team lead for JALDI (Justice, Access and Lowering Delays in India) in Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, was part of the team that analysed the BBMP’s legal caseloads, and problems and explored solutions.

She observes that cases filed on behalf of BBMP are large in numbers as BBMP’s approach continues to prioritise litigation, and alternatives are unexplored. Cases are sometimes filed by employees against BBMP for matters like delays in pensions, promotions etc. An internal grievance redressal mechanism can be explored in such cases, and the number of fresh cases will reduce.

“When cases are decided against BBMP, they file appeals without really thinking whether there is a scope for a favourable order. Risk assessment officials can be appointed to analyse the costs and benefits of fighting cases,” she adds.

She points to a major problem. “There is no set of rules to empanel the advocates. There is no assessment of the quality, capacity or competence of lawyers. There is no evaluation of the performance to see what their contribution is in terms of legal advice or representation. Some lawyers may be going for adjournments after adjournments but it does not show up in the form of a performance review,” she explains.

And there are problems within problems. “There is a huge gap in terms of the number of cases allocated to advocates. The report we prepared shows that some 15-20 advocates handle most of the cases. The remaining empanelled advocates hardly get any. Why do we have so many empanelled lawyers if they are not being utilised? The overall number of empanelled lawyers is also quite low in comparison to Mumbai Municipal Corporation,” she adds.

Deepika says the number of lawyers must be increased, but not blindly. A robust framework to monitor the empanelment and management of the advocate panel is extremely important.

She points to the lack of credible data on cases pending, duration, reason, responsibility etc. “Once in a while, this data is generated when some report needs to be submitted. BBMP needs to use technology to track cases. Only then will they know where exactly the inefficiencies lie,” she notes.

“There is no provision for BBMP legal department under any law or rule. So first, there needs to be a legal framework for the BBMP legal cell to exist and function,” she points out. As the next step, the structure of the cell should be defined. “Without this, it is very ad hoc,” she observes.

Then the caseworkers and law officers should be hired and trained. “Now a case filed against BBMP goes to the official who is in charge of the subject matter. The officials are busy and have no time and expertise to give the paragraph-wise remarks that are necessary for lawyers to file something in court,” she says, stressing on hiring more people at every level and training them.

BBMP legal cell officials boast of a success rate of 95%. “Success rate is very high. But they also need to realise that pendency is also very high. Cases take such a long time to get disposed of, is it worth investing in the success that comes after several years of time and effort? That needs to be scientifically evaluated,” she adds.