Speaking at the coordination meeting of the Officers of Law and Justice Department and the Government Advocates of the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench on 30th May 2025 at the Secretariat Conference Hall, Advisor for Law and Justice, T.N Manen expressed that there is a need to have a closed coordination between the Department and the Government Advocates. Manen expressed that Justice delayed is justice denied and urged the Government Advocates to ensure that justice is delivered without undue delay for the interest of all concerned. He suggested that the law department should always be kept informed of the important cases that are taking up in the court so that the department will be able to monitor the issues with the concerned departments to cooperate and give timely instructions to the Government counsels. Manen further suggested that the performance of the Government Advocates should be reported to the department based on the actual performance of each Advocates by the controlling Advocates in order to assess their performance.
The Principal Secretary, Law and Justice Department, Y. Kikheto Sema, IAS has stated that more than 90 % of the cases in the High Court are writ petitions pertaining to the service matter where the Government is always the party as such, until and unless there is a close coordination between Govt. Advocates and the concerned department it would be difficult to defend the interest of the state. During the last AHOD and HOD meeting, Sema has offered that the Law and Justice Department is always ready to render any legal advice to the departments, wherein, the role of the Government is very important. The department will bridge between the Government departments and the Government Advocates so that the Government cases are efficiently defended.
The Government Advocates shared their grievances such as, the untimely extension of their services, meager lumpsum fixed pay which is not commensurate to their services rendering to the Government and non- furnishing of instructions by the departments in time, etc. They have also expressed that adjournments are normally sought due to non- furnishing of instructions and para-wise comments by the departments. Nevertheless, there are many Government cases that are won by the Government Advocates but they are often blamed by the Government.
After a threadbare deliberation it was decided that:
1. A timely coordination meeting will be held between the Government Advocates and the Department concerned, including the litigating department.
2. The department will ensure the timely extension of the service of the Government Advocates.
3. The Govt. Advocates will also provide the actual performance report of each Advocates to the Government.
4. The Lumpsum monthly fixed pay, which was revised in the last 10 years, 2014 shall be reviewed taking into account the lumpsum pay enjoying by the Government panels of the neighboring states and will pursue with the finance Department for consideration.
5. The Government Advocates will list out the cases pending in the High Court, Kohima Bench, indicating the department-wise and the nature of cases involved and the statistics of winning and losing and withdrawal during the last 3 years for examination.
6. The Government Advocates shall communicate to the Law and Justice Department in the event of any department continuously failed to furnish necessary instruction to the Government Advocates.
(DIPR)
