North civic body plan for lawyers: 3 strikes and out

TIRED OF LOSING CASES

TIRED OF repeated losses in legal matters over the last few years, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation is set to adopt a “three strikes” policy against its own lawyers.

The corporation is considering removing any advocate who loses three consecutive cases for the civic body from its panel. Running a legal bill of approximately Rs 40 lakh per year, with more than 300 lawyers in its panel, the legal department has been held responsible for “not fairly representing the case of the North MCD before courts”.

Standing committee chairman Prawesh Wahi made the proposal while presenting his budget speech earlier this week. Noting that the corporation has been losing cases in the court, Wahi said, “Losing the case translates to financial losses and also harms the image of the corporations. Therefore, if an empanelled lawyer of the corporation fails to win two consecutive cases, he should be given a notice, and if he loses a third, he should be removed from the panel.”

According to officials, the civic body pays between Rs 4,000 and Rs 2.5 lakh to its lawyers. Most of the cases pertain to challans and prosecutions while many pertain to recovery of dues.

Officials said that as of now, lawyers are removed from the panel only in cases when there may be complaints against particular advocates.

Wahi argued that several councillors have reported that their cases are not “strongly” represented in courts.

However, the legal department said officials don't always furnish details pertaining to cases. “Cases are not always supported by evidence and sometimes it is a struggle to get officers to cooperate,” a legal department official told The Indian Express.

Wahi said the proposal will be passed along with budget proposals in the next meeting of the house.