Law Officers of the Board of Revenue (Condition of Appointment) Rules, 1989 1. Short title and application. 2. Commencement. 3. Definitions. 4. Appointment of Law Officers. 5. Conditions of eligibility for appointment. 6. Duties of Law Officers. 7. Limitation. 8. Distribution of work. 9. Remuneration. 10. Travelling and daily allowances. 11. Leave. 12. Short term appointment. 13. Miscellaneous. 14. Repeal and saving.

The Law Officers of the Board of Revenue (Condition of Appointment) Rules, 1989

Published vide Notification Orissa Gazette Extraordinary No. 3/2-1-1990-R. and E. Department No. 245-3E. (CE)-33/89-R./2.1.1990

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Short title and application.- (1) These rules may be called the Law Officers of the Board of Revenue (Condition of Appointment) Rules, 1989.

(2) These rules shall apply to every Standing Counsel and Additional Standing Counsel appointed for the Board of Revenue.

Commencement.- These rules shall come into force from the date of their publication in theOfficial Gazette.
Definitions.- In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires-

(a) "Board of Revenue" means the Board of Revenue constituted under Section 2 of the Orissa Board of Revenue Act, 1951;

(b) "Government" means the Government of Orissa;

(c) "Law Officer" means a person appointed as Standing Counsel or Additional Standing Counsel of the Board of Revenue; and

(d) "Member" means the Member, Board of Revenue.

Appointment of Law Officers.- (1) The Law Officers shall be appointed by the Government in consultation with the Member:

Provided that if, when the term of appointment of Law officer expires, no person has been appointed to the said vacancy, the Member may extend the term of the erstwhile incumbent for a period not exceeding three months at a time.

(2) The Member shall, while making the recommendation in pursuance of Sub-rule (1) furnish from time to time to the State Government a panel of names. The panel may contain the following particulars in respect of each name included therein, namely ;

(i) Qualification,

(ii) Age,

(iii) Number of years of practice at the Bar,

(iv) Field of specialisation,

(v) General comments.

(3) Every appointment made in pursuance of Sub-rule (1) shall ordinarily be for a period of three years from the date of issue of the order of appointment:

Provided that the Government may, in any case, make an appointment for a short period :

Provided further that Government may at any time after giving one month's notice on payment of one month's Retainer Fee in lieu thereof, terminate the appointment of Law Officer.

(4) Notwithstanding, anything contained in the foregoing sub-rules, the Member may appoint a person who fulfils the conditions of eligibility specified in Rule 5 as a Special Counsel for any case or class of cases for any Station where any Court subject to the superintendence of the Board of Revenue holds camp-Courts. The appointment shall be terminated at any time without notice. The person appointed as the Special Counsel shall be paid only Daily Fee admissible to an Additional Standing Counsel unless a higher Daily Fee is sanctioned by Government in consideration of the complexity of any particular case.

Conditions of eligibility for appointment.- A person shall not be qualified to be appointed as Law Officer unless he-

(a) is a citizen of India;

(b) has put in at least seven years of practice; and

Duties of Law Officers.- The Law Officers of the Board of Revenue shall-

(a) appear for the State and for Government Officers before the Courts to which they are assigned;

(b) prepare parawise comments in respect of writ petitions filed before the High Court of Orissa against the orders passed by the Board of Revenue or any Court subject to its superintendence;

(c) render advice in all cases where a notice under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 is received by the Board of Revenue or any Court subject to its superintendence or any Head of Department who is in charge of any of the functions over which the Board of Revenue exercises superintendence;

(d) advice on questions of law and on drafts referred by the Board of Revenue or any Head of Department referred to in (c) above;

(e) bring to the notice of the Member cases in which any order passed by the Board of Revenue or any Court subject to its superintendence should be contested;

(f) render assistance in compilation of case laws to be published in the Journal of the Board of Revenue; and

(g) attend to any other analogous when assigned to him by the Member.

Limitation.- A Law Officer of the Board of Revenue shall not-

(a) hold any brief against the State or advise, appear or act in any case against the State or give advice to any party in any case (other than a criminal case) in which he is likely to be called upon to advise the State or any Government Officer;

(b) act or appear on behalf of a plaintiff in any suit in which the plaintiff has applied for permission to sue forma pauperis until the application for permission to sue in forma pauperis has been decided by the Court;

(c) appear for any party in cases (other than criminal cases) in which he might have accepted briefs prior to his appointment and in which the State is a party unless permission is obtained from the Member;

(d) accept any engagement or fee from private persons in cases in which he appears on behalf of the State;

(e) communicate directly or indirectly to any person any document or information which comes to his possession in the course of his duties; and

(f) do and action which will cause jeopardy to the interests of the State.

Distribution of work.- The Member shall from time to time, assign Courts to each Law Officer and shall also distribute among them the duties enjoined on them under these rules.
Remuneration.- (1) The Retainer Fee and the Daily Fee payable to the Law Officers shall be as may be fixed by the Member with the prior approval of Government.

(2) The Daily Fee shall be payable for each day of appearance in any Court to which the Law Officer has been assigned irrespective of the number of cases attended to :

Provided that if any Law Officer has to conduct a case or cases outside the station specified as his headquarters, the Daily Fee shall be at such higher rate as may be fixed by the Member with the prior approval of Government.

Travelling and daily allowances.- For journey performed by the Law Officers, they shall be entitled to travelling allowance and daily allowance as admissible to an Officer of the First Grade of the State Government. A Law Officer may, if permitted by the Member, travel by air in connection with any case or cases assigned to him. On the days of travel he shall be entitled to draw, besides the daily allowance admissible to him fifty per cent of the Daily Fee admissible to him, (provided that no fee for appearance has been claimed in respect of the days spent on journey), but if he appears in any Court on a day of travel he shall draw the full Daily Fee in addition to the admissible daily allowance. If, while appearing in any Court outside the station specified as his headquarters, the Law Officer has to halt on intervening holidays, he shall be paid, besides the daily allowance, fifty per cent of the Daily Fee admissible to him. The travelling allowance bill shall be countersigned by an officer authorised in this behalf by the Member.
Leave.- The Law Officer shall be entitled to casual leave as admissible to officers of the State Government and also of leave not exceeding thirty days in a year without prejudice to his entitlement to the Retainer Fees. If he avails of leave exceeding thirty days, he shall not be entitled to the Retainer Fee for the period exceeding thirty days, in calculating the period of absence on leave, public holidays shall be excluded.
Short term appointment.- ln the absence of any Law Officer for a period exceeding thirty days, the Member may appoint another person who fulfils the condition of eligibility specified in Rule 5 against the vacancy. Every such appointment will terminate on the date specified in the order of appointment or on the resumption of duty by the Law Officer in whose absence such vacancy arose, whichever is earlier. The person appointed in pursuance of this rule shall be entitled to the Retainer Fee and the Daily Fee admissible to the Law Officer in whose vacancy he was appointed.
Miscellaneous.- The Member shall supervise the work of the Law Officers and may issue instructions for proper discharge of their duties. In the event of any dereliction in duty on the part of any Law Officer, he shall report the matter to Government for appropriate orders. Where the dereliction is, in his opinion, serious, he may specify that, between the date indicated by him and the date of receipt of the order of Government, the Law Officer shall not appear in the Court assigned to him and shall not perform any of the duties enjoined on him under these rules, in every such case, the Law Officer shall not be entitled to the Retainer Fee or the Daily Fee for the aforesaid period.
Repeal and saving.- On the commencement of these rules, the Rules, Notifications, Orders in force immediately before suet, commencement shall, in so far as they relate to any of the matters herein specified, shall cease to have effect:

Provided that such cessation shall not affect anything duly done or any dues payable under the said Rules, Notifications or Orders :

Provided further that any action taken or thing done under the said Rules, Notifications or Orders in so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of these rules, shall be deemed to have been taken under these rules and shall continue in force until it is superseded by any action taken or thing done under these rules.