(2)On receipt of intimation that a prisoner committed to the Court of Sessions on a charge of murder desires to be defended at the expense of Government, it has been arranged that the Sessions Judge shall, unless he sees reason to believe that the prisoner is in a position to pay for his own defence, appoint a pleader for the purpose. To this end the Sessions Judge shall maintain a list of barristers or pleaders of the district in which Sessions trials are ordinarily held who are willing to accept briefs for the defence of prisoners on their trial for murder ; and ordinarily one of the persons on such list should be engaged.The list should be revised once in every three years, but the Judge shall have a discretion to revise it more frequently if he considers it desirable.(a)The pleaders on the panel shall be engaged by rotation except where an accused chooses a pleader out of his turn, in which case the pleader thus chosen shall lose his ordinarily turn unless he is again chosen out of his turn.(b)The wishes of the accused shall be ascertained by the Sessions Judge through the District Magistrate who shall depute a Magistrate to interview the accused in jail with a list of pleaders on the panel.(c)The Sessions Judge shall keep the District Magistrate supplied with an up-to-date list of pleaders on the panel, not excluding those who have had their turn, whether by rotation or because they were chosen by an accused out of their turn
