Case: Mundrika Prasad Sinha Vs. State Of Bihar

explained earlier, a bunch of Government pleaders is perfectly permissible consistently with Section 2(7) and Order 27 rule (4) Civil Procedure Code. Nor do the Bihar rules regarding government pleaders help. They are purely administrative prescriptions and serve as guidelines and cannot found a legal right, apart from the fact that they do not contradict Governments power to appoint more than one Government Pleader. Allocation of work or control inter se is an internal arrangement and we see no error even in that behaviour. Not to have provided more government counsel when the volume of litigation demanded it, would have clogged the dockets in Court and helped one pleader to corner all the briefs without reference to expeditious or efficient disposals.11. Be that as it may, one of the major streams of litigation in which government finds itself entangled flows from land acquisition. The States developmental projects which necessarily must be large, involve acquisition of lands on a large scale. Bihar is no exception. Since compensation claims come in considerable number before the Civil courts, several lawyers have to be engaged by the State for expeditious attention to its court litigation. The State, appreciating this need and with a view to help the court liquidate the docket explosion, appointed more than one government p leader for every District, depending on the case flow. Thus, Government Pleaders and Assistant Government Pleaders were appointed according to administrative rules of the State. Each one is a Government Pleader under Sec. 2(7), Code of Civil Procedure.It is heartening to notice that the Bihar Government appoints these lawyers after consultation with the District Judge. It is in the best interest of the State that it should engage competent lawyers without hunting for political partisans regardless of capability. Public offices and Government Pleadership is one-shall not succumb to Tammany Hall or subtler spoils system, if purity in public office is a desideratum. After all, the State is expected to fig ht and win its cases and sheer patronage is misuse of power. One effective method of achieving this object is to act on the advice of the District Judge regarding the choice of Government pleaders. When there were several thousand cases in the Patna courts and hundreds of cases before a plurality of tribunals, it was but right that Government did not sacrifice the speedy conduct of cases by not appointing a number of pleaders on its behalf, for the sake of the lucrative practice of a s ingle government Pleader. It is inconceivable how he would have discharged his duties to the court and to his client if this crowd of land acquisition cases were posted in several courts more or less at the same time. Adjournment to suit advocates convenience becomes a bane when it is used only for augmentation of counsels income, resisting democratisation and distributial justice within the profession. These principles make poor appeal to, those who count, which is a pity.12. Coming to t he larger submission of counsel for the petitioner, we do recognise its importance in our era of infiltration of politicking even in forbidden areas. A Government pleader is more than an advocate for a litigant. He holds a public office. We recall with approval the observations a Division Bench of the Madras High Court made in Ramachandran v. Alagiriswami and regard the view there, expressed about a Government Pleaders office, as broadly correct even in the Bihar set-up." .... the duties of the Government Pleader, Madras are duties of a public nature. Besides, as already explained the public are genuinely concerned with the manner in which a Government Pleader discharges his duties because, if he handles his cases badly, they have ultimately to foot the bill. The Rajasthan case does not take into account all the aspects of the matter.(36) The learned Advocate General argued that the Government Pleader, Madras is only an agent of the Government, that his duties are only to the Government who are his principles and that he owes no duty to the public at all and that for that reason he would not be the holder of a Public office.(37) It is difficult to accept this view. The contention of the learned Advocate General may have been less untenable if the duties of the Government Pleader were merely to conduct in courts cases to which Government are a party. But, as the rules stand, he has a number of other duties to discharge. Besides, even if his only duty is the conduct of cases in which Government have been impleaded, still as explained more t han once before the public are interested in the manner in which he discharges his duties....... ...... ......(90) I am clearly of opinion that having regard to the fact that the Government Pleader of this court is employed by the State on remuneration paid from the public exchequer and having regard to the various functions and duties to be performed by him in the due exercise of that office, most of which are of an independent and responsible character, the office must be held to be a public office within the scope of a quo warranto proceeding.I consider that the most useful test to be applied to determine the question is that laid down by Erle, J. in (1851) 17 QB 149. The three criteria are, source of the office, the tenure and the duties. I have applied that test and I am of opinion that the conclusion that the office is a public office is irresistible" .In this view, ordering about a Government Pleader is obnoxious but nothing savouring of such conduct is made out although we must enter a caveat that Governments under our Constitution shall not play with Law Offices on political or other impertinent considerations as it may affect the legality of the action and subvert the rule of law itself. After all, a Government Pleader and, in a sense, every member of the legal profession, has a higher dedication to the people.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]We fully appreciate the perspective presented by counsel. But before we come to that, let it be bluntly stated that if Government does an act offending the public office filled by a Government pleader what becomes the incumbent in the land of Gandhi is a dignified renunciation of office, not a chase for the lost briefs through the writ route. Moreover, the legal position is plain. As explained earlier, a bunch of Government pleaders is perfectly permissible consistently with Section 2(7) and Order 27 rule (4) Civil Procedure Code. Nor do the Bihar rules regarding government pleaders help. They are purely administrative prescriptions and serve as guidelines and cannot found a legal right, apart from the fact that they do not contradict Governments power to appoint more than one Government Pleader. Allocation of work or control inter se is an internal arrangement and we see no error even in that behaviour. Not to have provided more government counsel when the volume of litigation demanded it, would have clogged the dockets in Court and helped one pleader to corner all the briefs without reference to expeditious or efficientto t he larger submission of counsel for the petitioner, we do recognise its importance in our era of infiltration of politicking even in forbidden areas. A Government pleader is more than an advocate for a litigant. He holds a public office. We recall with approval the observations a Division Bench of the Madras High Court made in Ramachandran v. Alagiriswami and regard the view there, expressed about a Government Pleaders office, as broadly correct even in the BiharGovernment Pleaders and Assistant Government Pleaders were appointed according to administrative rules of the State. Each one is a Government Pleader under Sec. 2(7),Code of Civil Procedure.It is heartening to notice that the Bihar Government appoints these lawyers after consultation with the District Judge. It is in the best interest of the State that it should engage competent lawyers without hunting for political partisans regardless of capability. Public offices and Government Pleadership isnot succumb to Tammany Hall or subtler spoils system, if purity in public office is a desideratum. After all, the State is expected to fig ht and win its cases and sheer patronage is misuse of power. One effective method of achieving this object is to act on the advice of the District Judge regarding the choice of Government pleaders. When there were several thousand cases in the Patna courts and hundreds of cases before a plurality of tribunals, it was but right that Government did not sacrifice the speedy conduct of cases by not appointing a number of pleaders on its behalf, for the sake of the lucrative practice of a s ingle government Pleader. It is inconceivable how he would have discharged his duties to the court and to his client if this crowd of land acquisition cases were posted in several courts more or less at the same time. Adjournment to suit advocates convenience becomes a bane when it is used only for augmentation of counsels income, resisting democratisation and distributial justice within the profession. These principles make poor appeal to, those who count, which is a pity.