Hyderabad: As there is zero coordination between the Cantonment’s legal advisors (advocates) defending cases in courts and the Secunderabad Cantonment, the SCB is set to revise its panel of advocates.
If sources are to be believed, few of the advocates are even supporting private parties on the sly instead of defending cases of encroachments in cantonment area. These encroachers, thus, easily get stay orders, as the advocates of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board do not put up strong cases. The SCB will also revise the legal fees of the advisors.
Sujata Gupta, CEO of the Cantonment Board said that the SCB had three to four legal advisers advocating for the Board and except for the registrar, no one knew which cases were being assigned to which advocate and presented in court.
Every government body has a council comprising a senior lawyer who heads the panel of advocates. All notices received with regard to any violation within the Cantonments should ideally be presented in court in consultation with the CEO and the panel head, which is not happening in the SCB.
The SCB CEO has no idea how many cases were being presented and how many new cases were being added or what their backgrounds were.
In 90 per cent of Cantonment cases, the court is misled by the private party. By giving only one side of the story, they state harassment and get stay orders and, thus, the SCB loses the case. In order to curb these activities, the SCB will revise the panel to gain control over legal affairs.
The SCB is losing more than 300 cases; most of these are technical cases. This will be the first change in the panel. The appointed panel head will convey timely action taken and also train the junior staff.
