Section 21(5) in Conduct of the Government Litigation, Rules, 2000
(5)Swearing of counter affidavit:-(a)As soon as a case is filed against any Government Department, the concerned Department shall handover the case to such Officer who is well conversant with the facts and circumstances of the case.(b)The said Officer shall then prepare parawise comments and defence based facts from files and records and shall place the same before the Department Secretary who in turn shall entrust the same to the Officer concerned who has been entrusted or delegated with the duty of handling litigation of the Department.(c)Thereafter, the parawise comments duly countersigned by the Departmental Secretary shall be placed before the legal Remembrancer or Joint Legal Remembrancer.(d)The Legal Remembrancer or the Joint Legal Remembrancer shall scrutinize the facts stated by the Department for obtaining approval from the Competent Authority.(e)After all these formalities are complete, the same shall be sent to the Law Officer concerned to give final shape to the draft reply/written statement/affidavit etc. Once the draft is finalized the same shall be placed before the Advocate General for settlement.(f)Any information required by the Advocate General/Government Advocate concerned in the High Court in connection with the preparation of the counter affidavit shall be furnished by the administrative department concerned as early as possible.(g)The draft counter affidavit shall after finally settled by the Advocate General be sworn in by the Head of the department or by the competent officer authorized to do so by the Government.(h)On swearing the counter affidavit by the Head of the department or by the competent officer, the same shall be filed in the High Court.
