The AP Pollution Control Board has urged the Advocate-General of AP High Court to send it a panel of advocates from which it could select somebody who could represent it at various courts and Appellate Tribunals. This suggestion has come in the wake of the PCB’s concern over the increasing number of cases pertaining to the environment pending in court. The APPCB had written a letter to the AG on April 24, sent a remin-der on May 21 and another on June 5, 2012.
The three-year tenure of Y. Srinivasa Murthy, the Board’s standing counsel, ended on April 16, 2010. In fact, on Ap-ril 9, 2010, APPCB had urged the secretary, legal affairs department, to appoint a standing counsel at the earliest. When there was no reply, the Board requested Srinivasa Murthy to continue in his post until further orders.
PCB officials said there had been a spurt in number of cases pending in High Court and Appellate Tribu-nals, AP State Human Rights Commission and Lokayukta, with APPCB as respondent. The state pollution control board has said in its letter to the Advocate-General that there was a correspoding increase in the overall workload, with only one counsel dealing with all the APPCB cases. It was becoming difficult for the counsel to handle various cases being dealt with by the Board at various courts, the letter said. The Board is writing to government as well.