India News | Allahabad HC Summons UP Chief Secy over State Counsels Appearing Before It Without Case Briefs

Prayagraj (UP), Dec 2 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra to appear before it over state counsels being unaware of details of cases and showing up without a brief (case file).

The bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice JJ Munir gave the directions while hearing a special appeal filed by Manish Srivastava and others.

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At the time of the hearing, when no one appeared to represent the state government, the respondent in the case, the bench said, "We had to call the State counsel and ask whether anyone is appearing in the matter as no one... stood up when the matter was taken up for hearing."

"The counsel did not have even the brief of the case," it said.

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The court said this is not an isolated case.

"Today only there were four matters listed where the state counsel was without any brief of the case. All those cases had to be adjourned perforce without assistance (and) as a result..., none of the old matters pending in this Court can be taken up and decided," it said.

"We have no choice but to summon the Chief Secretary, State of Uttar Pradesh to appear in person in the court to explain the position as to how the courts will function if the state counsel appear in court without any brief," it said.

The court listed the case for next hearing on December 13.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)