Ritika Singh Sisodiya/TNNLucknow: The Allahabad HC’s Lucknow bench has asked the state govt to examine whether state law officers holding govt posts should be allowed to contest elections to bar associations or the UP Bar Council.The court directed govt to consult all stakeholders, including the bar associations, the UP Bar Council and state law officers, before taking a decision on the issue.A bench of Justices Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Rajiv Bharti issued an eight-point set of guidelines governing the appointment and functioning of state law officers. It said govt must assess the actual requirement of law officers on the basis of the workload of cases before making appointments.The directives have been issued on a batch of PILs, including the plea filed by Mahendra Singh Pawar. UP advocate general Ajay Kumar Mishra had stressed that the state govt had Legal Remembrancer (LR) Manual and the engagements are made as per the provisions mentioned in it.Upholding LR Manual, the court said govt must take into account the entire range of litigation involving the state and the workload handled by law officers while determining their requirement. The court directed the state govt to consider ensuring adequate representation of women advocates among law officers. Besides, the bench said, whenever an FIR is registered against a state law officer, a copy of FIR should be forwarded to the advocate general who would be required to take appropriate action. The court also made it mandatory for a state law officer representing a private party against the state to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the competent authority. On the issue of bar elections, the bench said the state govt should undertake a comprehensive exercise to determine whether a state law officer should be permitted to contest elections to a bar association or the Bar Council while holding office.
