Punjab govt advertises 160 posts of law officers

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has advertised 160 posts of law officers for its advocate general office in Chandigarh and the legal cell in Delhi. All appointments, which will be on contractual basis, include three posts of senior additional advocate general, 39 of additional advocate general, 22 posts of senior deputy advocate general, 42 posts of deputy advocate general, 49 posts of assistant advocate general and five posts of advocate on record.

For the post of senior additional advocate general, a designated senior advocate or advocate with 20 years of practice can apply but he will need a minimum annual professional income of ₹20 lakh. For the post of additional advocate general, an advocate needs to have 16 years of practice or designated senior advocate and annual professional income of ₹15 lakh.

For the post of senior deputy advocate general, the applicant needs to have 14 years of practice and ₹10 lakh annual professional income. And, ₹7 lakh annual professional income, 10 years of practice, and ₹3.5 lakh annual professional income with three years practice are required for those applying for the posts of deputy advocate general and assistant advocate general, respectively.

No minimum practice period is required for those applying for the post of advocate on record. In all the cases, annual income should be of past three years. All applicants need to apply online by May 5; 5% posts are reserved for people from state prosecution department.

Since Captain-led government took charge in Punjab on March 16, it has been continuing with those appointed by the previous government. All contracts have been extended upto May 10. State advocate general Atul Nanda said that the number of posts have been fixed after an audit of workload at the AG office in Chandigarh and the legal cell in Delhi.

“We have examined workload of the past five years. In view of 25% annual increase in litigation, the number of law officers is lesser than appointments by the previous government, which at one point had 205 law officers,” Nanda said.

He said that the number of judges in the high court will go up. “If appointments are made, keeping in view the workload during the previous government and number of law officers engaged, we will need 477 law officers for the present government,” he claimed, adding that the number has been brought down by 45 against the working strength during the previous regime.