Respect turf: Law to other depts

NEWDELHI: The law ministry has written to all ministries and departments telling them not to approach the attorney general and other law officers directly, reiterating the supremacy of the legal affairs department in dealing with legal opinion and advice, a ministry official said.

The communication from the ministry comes in the wake of ministries and departments writing to the AG, KK Venugo- pal, directly for legal advice.

“Under the allocation of business rules, giving legal advice to the government is the exclusive domain of the department. The rules apply to all ministries and departments,” a law ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules 1961 define advice to ministries on legal matters, including the interpretation of the Constitution and the l aws, as the job of the legal affairs department.

Citing the Law Officers (Condition of Services) Rules, the legal affairs department has said all requests and the opinion provided would be invalid unless routed through it. AG Venugopal concurred with the view, saying he can’t be “flooded with requests from everyone”.

“The ministry has a mechanism for vetting requests and they have in-house experts. Everyone from under-secretary upwards in different ministries can’t be seeking legal opinion on their own,” he said.