Jung letter may have led government to set up panel for selecting lawyers

NEW DELHI: It was a letter from Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal which is understood to have prompted Delhi government to set up a new panel for selection of public prosecutors and government counsels, sources said.

Kejriwal had yesterday announced formation of a committee for selection of public prosecutors and government counsels as part of efforts to remove all "political appointees" from various departments.

In his letter to Kejriwal, Jung had asked the Delhi CM to look into the factors behind the government losing a high number of court cases.

In the January 13 letter, Jung had asked Kejriwal to intervene in matters related to the government legal team, a source said.

"Jung requested the CM to find out the reasons for the government losing so many court cases. He wanted to know whether non-payment/low salary or quality of lawyers was the reason for low conviction rates," the source added.

Kejriwal had blamed the present lot of lawyers in government departments as one of the main reasons for the government losing court cases.

"The quality of some lawyers is very bad and they could not even speak a single line properly," Kejriwal had said, adding that the said committee's endeavour would be to appoint efficient lawyers.

Sources said that Supreme Court lawyer Dayan Krishnan, who was the special public prosecutor appointed by Delhi Police in the December 16 gangrape case in the national capital, is likely to be named the Standing Counsel for Delhi government.