Legal Advisor

L.A is assisted by one Dy. Secy./Law, one Under Secy./Legal, 2 Law Officer Gr.-I and 6 Law Officers Gr.-II for dealing with cases.

(A) Organisation Set-up & Functions of Legal Section

Right from the inception of the Board, a Legal Section is attached with the Board Secretariat under the overall control of Secy. PSEB. Legal Section consists of the following legally qualified staff :-

Law Officer Gr. II (at lowest rank) 10 posts

Law Officer Gr. I (Promotional post) 2 posts

Under Secy./Legal (Promotion from L.O Gr.-1) one post

Dy. Secretary/Law (Promotional post) one post

Legal Advisor (Ex-cadre post) one post

The Legal Section is mainly entrusted with the duties & functions to deal with the legal issues in different nature of cases and render opinions to all the H.O organisation and field offices throughout Punjab . Few matters which are generally dealt with by the Legal Section are enumerated as under:-

• To render legal advice and interpret statutes of Commercial Laws, Industrial Laws, Electricity Laws, & Criminal Law and all sorts of cases.

• To deal Land acquisition cases

• To render advice in Court case before the Civil Courts in each Distt. Head Quarters and Tehsil Head Quarters, court of Compensation Commissioner & Motor Accident Tribunal, Labour Court cases, Sale Tax Authorities, Consumer Forum case, Punjab Human Rights cases etc. including personal attendance.

• To render advice in Writs and appeals and other cases in the High Court and Supreme Court of India.

• To render advice in Arbitration cases involving claims of Lac of Rupees.

• To hold Conferences with counsel, all High Court and Supreme Court of India cases in important cases.

• To vet contract agreements, Lease deeds, Bonds, Warranty deeds, Bank Guarantees, Contract Guarantees, Performance Guarantees and other legal instruments received from various section of Secretariat and Chief Executive Officers.

• Legal advice in large number of accident cases involving Board's employees and private persons as well as animals.

• To render advice on reference received from the establishment sections, Sales Section and other section of the Board.

• To render advice in large number of purchases cases at their different stages including risk purchase and ultimately reference to Arbitration cases for recovery of risk purchase amount.

• Criminal proceedings against theft of stores and theft of energy cases.

• To scrutinize and comment upon the reports of vigilance unit when referred to Legal Section.

• Notices under Section-80 CPC and other statutes served upon the Board.

• Drafting legal documents.

• Vetting of notices to be served by the Board on other parties under various Acts.

• Empanelment of advocates to conduct the Board's case in different courts.

B: Achievements

At present about 3624 court cases are pending in Hon'ble Apex Court , High Court, National Consumer Redressal Commission, New Delhi and State Consumer Redressal Commission, Chandigarh etc as per information received from various offices. W.e.f (1.1.2009 to 31.3.2009) 60 cases have been decided by the courts, out of which 33 (55%) cases have been decided in favour of the Board and 17 (28.33%) cases have been decided against the Board. Apart from this 10 (16.67%) cases have been partially decided in favour or against the Board.

C Although it is the duty of the concerned organisation to follow up the cases in the courts but in few cases of important nature, the Legal Section is also directly associated in pursuing the cases such as :-

• Suit No. 2 State of Himachal Pardesh Vs State of Punjab & others (Inter State Dispute)

• Sansar Chand Vs PSEB ? Land dispute case (Shanan Hydel Project)

• CWP No. 18006/02-Jit Singh & others Vs PSEB (Extra remuneration for work on Saturday /Sunday case) (Decided in favour of the Board).

• Hakam Singh & others Vs PSEB (Extra remuneration for work on Saturday /Sunday case) (Decided in favour of the Board).

• Paramjit Sharma & others Vs PSEB (Extra remuneration for work on Saturday /Sunday case) (Decided in favour of the Board).

Under Secy./Legal,

-Cum-Nodal Officer,

PSEB, Patiala .