Law officers’ selection

PUNJAB Congress legal cell members have challenged their own government’s selection of law officers, alleging no test or interview has taken place. According to media reports, those selected include relatives of sitting and former judges, bureaucrats and politicians. More than pleading for a fair and transparent system of appointments, the Congress legal luminaries are irked at being left out from the distribution of spoils of office. Media reports suggest Capt Amarinder Singh has justified the selections, saying deserving candidates cannot be ignored just because they are related to someone in power. His predecessor, Parkash Singh Badal, also distributed posts to party loyalists without ever feeling the need to offer justifications. Haryana leaders are no different either. 

Punjab’s selection of judicial officers is in violation of the procedure specifically laid down for Punjab and Haryana by the Supreme Court in March 2016. The apex court had directed the two states to constitute a search committee which would recommend a panel of names to the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice, who in consultation with other judges, would vet the list of candidates from which final selections would be made. The Supreme Court used quite strong words to pull up the two states for not having “a fair and realistic assessment of the requirement” of law officers or any procedure or guidelines to regulate the appointments other than the Advocate General. Such appointments, it said, were done for “political aggrandisement, appeasement or personal benevolence of those in power towards those appointed”. And these lead to “erosion of the rule of law” and “administration of justice”. 

The admonition has made no impact on Punjab and Haryana. Media reports rather talk of the Punjab Government’s plan of bringing in a law to scuttle the apex court’s procedural guidelines. In the Budget session it could only undo the apex court’s order on liquor consumption in hotels and restaurants on highways. Haryana too is harming the justice system; it has snatched away PCS (judicial) selections from the state Public Service Commission. Democratically elected leaders are not supposed to use their power arbitrarily. Otherwise, public faith in the fairness of the system would be shaken.