The Rajasthan High Court set aside the Jaipur Development Authority’s termination of Assistant Advocates, stressing that lawyers must be treated with dignity. The Bench held their engagement cannot be at the authority’s whims and must follow reasonable procedures.
The Rajasthan High Court has set aside the Jaipur Development Authority’s (JDA) decision to terminate several Assistant Advocates who had been engaged by the Authority.
Justice Ganesh Ram Meena emphasized that advocates cannot be treated like servants and cannot be dismissed without following proper procedures.
The Bench observed,
“This Court is of the opinion that the lawyers have some dignity and they cannot be treated like a servant. Their engagement or disengagement has to be as per the reasonable terms and conditions. The dignity of a lawyer cannot be put to compromise. The respondents-authorities cannot be allowed to engage or disengage a lawyer for a legal work at their whims. The engagement or disengagement has to be in accordance with some procedure and terms and conditions,”
The Court directed the JDA to reinstate the counsels as Assistant Advocates. It also ordered the Authority to devise a comprehensive policy outlining eligibility, tenure, and procedures for appointing and removing Assistant Advocates.
The Court added,
“The petitioners whose writ petitions are allowed by this order shall be allowed to continue as Assistant Advocates till their work is found to be qualitative and satisfactory or any such policy/ guidelines/ instructions are framed as directed,”
The Court further urged the State to include provisions ensuring representation for women lawyers and lawyers from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and weaker sections.
The decision arose from a batch of petitions challenging the termination of Assistant Advocates who had been engaged to coordinate between JDA officers and panel counsel. One engagement condition permitted removal if a Zone Commissioner’s report found work performance unsatisfactory.
Advocate Pratap Singh, engaged in 2009, was among those removed last year.
Counsel for the petitioners contended that the terminations violated principles of natural justice and breached the engagement terms.
In its March 25 judgment, the Court noted that JDA produced no reports substantiating poor performance by the removed Assistant Advocates.
The Bench observed,
“It has come out that the work performance of the petitioners has been certified to be qualitative and satisfactory by the respondent- Authority and still under the directions of the Hon’ble Minister, their engagements have been cancelled for no good reason. The respondents have failed to convince this Court that as to why the lawyers who have gained much experience as Assistant Advocates are being thrown out for no good reason,”
The Court said the JDA could have stipulated fixed tenures for such engagements, but having not done so, it was bound to respect the terms set out in the engagement orders.
The terminations were therefore held to be arbitrary. While acknowledging the State’s discretion to appoint lawyers of its choice, the Court stressed that any engagement or removal must be reasonable and not capricious.
The judge stated,
“When the terms and conditions of engagements of Assistant Advocates like the petitioners provide for their removal only on count of work performance then the respondents could not disengage or cancel their engagements at their whims,”
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Consequently, the Court quashed the cancellation orders and directed that the petitioners continue in their roles as Assistant Advocates.
Senior Advocates Kamlakar Sharma and RN Mathur, along with Yogesh Kalla, Ranvijay Singh, Dinesh Yadav, Ankit Yadav, Sahil Sharma, Ashish Sharma, Ravi Shanker Sharma, Pawan Sharma and Azad Ahmed, represented the petitioners.
Advocates Abhishek Sharma, Pooja Sharma, Rishabh Khandelwal, Ajay Shukla and Raghav Sharma appeared for the JDA.
Case Title: Pratap Singh v Jaipur Development Authority