Centre sacks 111 lawyers hired by UPA government

In an ‘unprecedented’ move, the NDA government has sacked as many as 111 lawyers appointed during the UPA regime to represent the Centre in indirect tax cases before various judicial bodies.

In a June 18 order, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) cancelled their appointment as its standing counsel, overturning its own June 9 order, where these advocates were included in an appointments list of 251 senior/junior standing counsel for the Board. As per the original order, the tenure of these 251 standing counsel, including the 111, was to expire only on June 8, 2019.