In an attempt at bringing transparency in the appointment of law officers in the Madras High Court and its Bench at Madurai, the Tamil Nadu government has notified a set of new rules.
As per the rules, a Selection Committee would appoint the law officers in the High Court.
The committee would have the Advocate General (AG) as the Chairperson and Secretaries from the Public, Home and Law Departments as members. It would select the law officers from a panel consisting of names for each of the posts, according to the notification.
The AG would forward the list of advocates as per the eligibility norms prescribed in Rule 4 to the government after preliminary scrutiny for selection of law officers and the government would place the list before the Selection Committee.
“After ascertaining the antecedents of the candidates recommended by the Selection Committee, the State government may appoint such person as a law officer of the State for the specified post,” the rules stated.
The notification from the Public Department (Law) also stated that the work of the law officer shall be assessed every year by the AG and the assessment report shall be sent to the government for review of the performance of each law officer.
The notification has elaborated on the eligibility, term, removal and disqualification of law officers.
A former law officer said the notification from the government followed a plea in the Madras High Court by a petitioner seeking transparency in the process of appointing law officers.
