Govt can appoint lawyers of its choice: Telangana High Court upholds State decision to remove BRS-appointed lawyers

The Telangana High Court recently upheld the Congress government's decision to remove the government lawyers appointed by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in various courts of the District Judiciary between 2021 and 2023 [Nagaram Anjaiah & others vs The State of Telangana]..The affected law officers had challenged the government order dated June 26 on the ground that they were not given any opportunity of hearing before discontinuation of services.Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said that the situation is comparable to an advocate holding a private brief and the client need not give reasons for withdrawing the vakalat from one lawyer and giving it to another. The same is the case with government as well and it cannot be deprived of its freedom and discretion to appoint lawyers of its choice, the Court said.“In case of an Advocate holding a private brief, the client need not give any reason for withdrawing the vakalat. Thus, it would be unreasonable to deprive the government of such freedom and discretion to appoint counsel of its choice,” the Single Judge said.The State cannot be expected to give an opportunity of hearing before removing the law officers, the Court said..The Court also rejected the allegations of mala fides against the government as vague and without substance. “In the opinion of this Court, if the government does not have freedom to appoint counsel of its choice, it would amount to placing fetters on their decisions and thereby cause interference in the administration,” it added.The Court also dealt with the argument that en masse removal of law officers due to change of government was arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.“Even looking from the angle of change of government, it needs to be seen that the law officers who are basically engaged to represent the government and take care of the government’s interest should enjoy the trust and confidence of the government. The government being the client is the best person to appoint its counsel,” Justice Reddy said..The Court also did not agree with the submission that discontinuation of the law officers would be a stigma for their future appointment.The disengagement of the petitioners is by way of simplictor order and not with any negative reasons, the Court said as it dismissed the petitions challenging the government decision. .Senior Counsel Vedula Venkataramana along with advocates Prasad Pulpoody, C Kalyan Rao and Samala Ravendar represented the petitioners.Advocate General A Sudershan Reddy represented the State.[Read Judgment]