The Punjab and Haryana high court has quashed the Punjab government condition incorporated in June while the recruitment process for the selection of additional district attorneys (ADAs) and deputy district attorneys (DDAs) was underway.
The government has been told to complete the process within a month. The 119 posts of ADAs and 41 posts of DDAs were advertised by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) in April 2022. While the recruitment process was underway in June 2023, a letter was written by the superintendent of the home affairs and justice department, Punjab, demanding that the selected candidates should produce copies of six court orders/zimni orders of each year showing their presence in the court to prove the experience claimed by them. It was this order, which was under challenge before the court arguing that it amounts to adding a condition which was not part of the advertisement for the selections.
While quashing the June 2023 communication to candidates from the home department, the court observed that the PPSC is a statutory authority and a superintendent or a secretary of the state government cannot be allowed to ignore the recommendations of the PPSC by introducing an additional requirement after the selection process has been concluded and recommendations have been forwarded to the said authorities to appoint persons according to merit.
It further recorded that the state was to conclude the process by June 30, but due to this action, the selection process has been put to a standstill. “It has not been brought on record as to why an opinion was taken from the concerned DDA and on whose request, an additional advocate general, Punjab, has given the opinion which has resulted in issuing of the letter dated 05.06.2023. This court does not want to comment further on the approach of the officers of the state and the action of the additional advocate general, Punjab, except to state that the said action is deplorable. Even the opinion placed on record is not based on any law or judgment and appears to have been given at the asking,” the bench of justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma recorded.
{{/usCountry}}It further recorded that the state was to conclude the process by June 30, but due to this action, the selection process has been put to a standstill. “It has not been brought on record as to why an opinion was taken from the concerned DDA and on whose request, an additional advocate general, Punjab, has given the opinion which has resulted in issuing of the letter dated 05.06.2023. This court does not want to comment further on the approach of the officers of the state and the action of the additional advocate general, Punjab, except to state that the said action is deplorable. Even the opinion placed on record is not based on any law or judgment and appears to have been given at the asking,” the bench of justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma recorded.
{{/usCountry}}The court, however, said that the ADAs are required to present the case of the state government effectively in the courts and it appears that the government essentially intended to select those advocates who have rich experience of practice in the courts alone. “However, the method and manner adopted for searching out such ADAs is wholly unjustified and incorrect approach,” it said, adding that if at all the state wanted to have only those advocates who have practised in the court of law such a condition should have been put in the advertisement.