TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1965 (9) TMI 82
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....he Appellant had committed contempt of court, inter alia, on the ground that while acting as the Railway Magistrate, he had disobeyed certain specific orders of the District and Sessions Judge, Meerut. The said application was admitted by the Allahabad High Court and notice was ordered to be issued against the Appellant. The Appellant was a special Magistrate appointed by the UP Government. The UP Government sanctioned the amount necessary for the defence of the Appellant and instructed Mr. K.B. Asthana, the Junior Standing Counsel, to represent him in the proceedings in question. Later, the said Government instructed Mr. Misra, the Advocate-General to appear in defence as the Advocate of the Appellant. Accordingly, the Advocate-General filed his appearance as Advocate-General appearing for the Appellant. An objection was then raised by the Respondent that the Advocate-General could not appear in the present proceedings on behalf of the Appellant. The Advocate-General then filed his appearance also as an Advocate for the same party on 22-12-1960. Even so, the Respondent's learned Advocate contended that Mr. K.L. Misra could not appear in the present proceedings either as the....
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....he receives remuneration on his appointment as Advocate-General under Article 165(3); and so, there can be no doubt that subject to the other terms and conditions of his appointment as Advocate-General, he would be entitled to exercise his right as an Advocate and appear for private parties. Thus, whether the status of Mr. Misra is considered as an Advocate General or as an Advocate, prima-facie, it is difficult to understand how he can be prohibited from appearing in any legal proceeding like the one with which the Allahabad High Court was dealing in the present case. 5. The Legal Remembrance's Manual prepared by the UP Government provides for certain Rules for the conduct of the Advocate-General, the Government Advocate of the High Court, the Deputy Government Advocate, the Assistant Government Advocate, the Senior Standing Counsel and the Junior Standing Counsel. The appointment of the Advocate-General, however, is made under the constitutional provision contained in Article 165 and that gives him a special constitutional status. The judgment under appeal indicates that the Allahabad High Court based its decision, inter alia, on some of the rules made by the UP Government....
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.... be called upon to advise the Government. If a private party goes to the Advocate-General for his legal opinion, or otherwise for his assistance as a lawyer, the Advocate-General has to decide whether the matter in respect of which his opinion or his assistance is solicited, is of such a character that Government may later ask him for his advice in respect of it. If he decides that it is of such a character, then he cannot and will not advise or assist the private party. On the other hand, if he comes to the conclusion that the matter in which his advice or assistance is sought is not of a character in which Government would be interested and in respect of which Government was likely to ask for his advice, then it is open to him to give such advice or assistance. It is significant that whether or not he should assist the private party, has been left to the discretion and decision of the Advocate-General himself. In our opinion, having regard to the constitutional status of the Advocate-General, it is not surprising that the rule in question should have left this matter to the sole discretion of the Advocate General. 6. The Allahabad High Court has, however, taken the view that t....
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....al, the High Court has failed to take into account the constitutional provision contained in Article 165(2). Under the said provision, the Advocate-General has to perform such other duties of a legal character as may, from time to time, be referred or assigned to him by the Governor; and it would be idle to suggest that the duty assigned to the Advocate-General to appear in the present proceedings for the Appellant is not a duty of a legal character. Therefore, the view taken by the High Court that the Government had no power to assign the present work to the Advocate-General, is not sound. 9. Then the High Court has referred to certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure and has observed "that it is One of the functions of the Advocate-General to exhibit information in the High Court in respect of criminal contempt." This view plainly ignores the provisions of Rule 8(c) and 41(5) to which we have already referred. These rules indicate that in contempt proceedings, it is the duty of the Government Advocate for the High Court to appear on behalf of the State and it is not the duty of the Advocate-General to appear in such cases. Therefore, having regard to the relevant r....