Chandigarh UT’s new legal panel for Punjab and Haryana High Court are 20 relatives of politicians and former and siting High Court Judges sparkling nepotism.
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CHANDIGARH: On June 24, list of 116 new panel counsels appointed was notified, i.e., 59 junior panel counsel and 57 senior panel counsels. The list includes two siting councilors of BJP and daughter-in-law of former city BJP chief.
The recent appointment includes 20 lawyers notified in the list of panel counsel for Chandigarh administration, Punjab and Haryana High Court who are the relatives of the politicians and former and siting High Court Judges.
Apart from them, other two appointed lawyers are the related to the home secretary of the UT, Mandeep Singh Brar and his sister Lisa Gill who is the Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
However, these 20 appointees who are the close relatives of sitting or former High Court judges and political has drawn the attention. The list includes the name such as
- Anmol Pratap Singh Mann, son of retired justice TPS Mann;
- Deepak Malhotra, a BJP leader;
- Pritpal Nijjar, son of retired justice SS Nijjar and brother- in- law of Amit Jhanji;
- Shubreet Kaur, daughter of retired justice SS Saron;
- Ruchi Sekhri;
- Two Chandigarh BJP sitting councillors Saurabh Joshi and Maheshinder Singh Sidhu.
The appointment of these individuals has raised the concern of nepotism and favoritism within the legal community.
As per the sources, previously the penal included around 70 to 80 lawyers, but for the first time, the number has exceeded 100 on the civil side alone, which is overseen by the Senior Standing Counsel. Senior standing counsel, UT, Amit Jhanji said,
“Everyone who has been included is qualified and deserving, regardless of their background.”
Although the administration maintains that the appointments were made over a 7-8 month period based on competence and experience, critics contend that the process lacked transparency and a clearly defined merit based framework.
The officers said,
“CVs were received in the office of the senior standing counsel and legal remembrance during this period. The same were scrutinized before notifying appointments. The last major review took place in 2019-2020, when the then senior standing counsel and now a sitting judge had overhauled the list.”
While the basic eligibility criteria requires at least five years of practice for junior counsels and eight years for senior counsels, no further objective evaluation criteria were disclosed. This absence of clarity has led to growing scepticism over whether the selections were genuinely merit driven or influenced by political and judicial connections. The officers said,
The panel lawyers do not receive a fixed salary but are paid Rs. 24,000, per case for senior counsels and Rs. 11,000 for junior counsels. Their role is to represent the Chandigarh administration in civil matters before the High Court, which requires both legal expertise and a strong sense of public responsibility.
Interestingly, this year’s panel is considerably larger than in previous years, which typically featured around 70 to 80 lawyers. While the administration justifies the expansion as a move to increase opportunities and strengthen legal representation, the list of individuals appointed, with powerful family connections has only heightened public scrutiny.
The revised legal panel of Chandigarh UT has brought renewed attention to the critical issues of transparency, fairness, and merit in public legal appointments. With increasing calls for a clear, criteria-based selection process, this development underscores the pressing need for systemic reforms to preserve public confidence and maintain the credibility of the legal system.
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