BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government seems to have woken up from its slumber after several court orders went against the State due to non-submission or delay in filing of counter-affidavits or para-wise comments. The General Administration Department has asked all departments to appoint nodal officers, who will be the contact point for monitoring the progress of cases by acting as a link between the office of the Advocate General (AG) and different sections and branches of the department concerned.
Stating that the State government and the office of AG have been making all efforts to ensure that court cases filed against the State are defended in the right earnest, Principal Secretary of GA department Surendra Kumar has urged department heads to ensure that the notices relating to court cases are attended on a priority.
The nodal officers will submit the para-wise comments well in time so that the counter-affidavits can be sworn. Although earlier the departments were asked to appoint nodal officers, barring a few, many are yet to engage the officers of appropriate rank to deal with court cases. The direction came after the GA department noticed that in many cases some departments are failing to reply/respond to notices/ in the submission of comments within the timeline stipulated in the notice.
In many cases, this has gone adversely against the State and courts have taken strong exception to non-submission of comments/filing of affidavits and granted interim stay, thereby affecting the interest of the State government. “It is a cause of concern as some departments have failed to successfully defend the stance of the government largely due to the delay in filing of the counter affidavit,” said an official.
Kumar has advised the department heads to make the nodal officers responsible for failing to ensure that counter affidavit are prepared and submitted in due consultation with the AG. They can seek the help of the AG in case they fail to resolve any issue.