Depts can choose counsel for court cases, says Chandigarh Administration

At present, a large number of cases are going on in the Chandigarh district court, Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) and Punjab and Haryana High Court.

A department head who did not wish to be named said a lot of time was wasted in putting forth a request for engaging counsel for a court case.
The orders issued by finance secretary Sarvjit Singh while acting as secretary (law) reads: “As requested by a number of head of departments to facilitate timely response to contempt petitions, heads of department are hereby authorised to select the counsel from among those on the panel approved by the law department of Chandigarh Administration.”

Sarvjit Singh told Chandigarh Newsline that the decision has been taken to ensure that all the contempt cases are attended in time and effectively.

On November 10, the official car of the finance secretary was attached after the estate office failed to transfer property in name of the petitioner. The court had ordered to mutate the property of Sector 9 resident Sanjay Majithia’s grandfather in his name. He had filed a case in court on June 6, 2010, seeking the mutation of a house in Sector 9 in his name. After the trial, the court ordered mutation
of the property in Sanjay’s name on February 27 this year but the administration failed to comply with the orders following which he again approached the court in August this year, seeking attachment of the property of officials of administration.

Three days after attachment of finance secretary’s car, UT estate office complied with the order by transferring the property in the name of Sanjay Majithia, who is the son of former high court judge G R Majithia.

The administration held public prosecutor Hukam Singh responsible for the delay and put him under suspension on November 17, but was forced to revoked the suspension the very next day due to pressure from the district bar association.