Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Barala’s son Vikas Barala has been appointed as Assistant Advocate-General (AAG) in Haryana at the Advocate-General’s Delhi office.AdvertisementHe and a friend were booked in 2017 for allegedly stalking and attempting to kidnap DJ Varnika Kundu, daughter of IAS officer VS Kundu. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for August 2, 2025.The other high-profile appointments in the AG office include Anu Pal – the younger sister of Justice Lisa Gill of the Punjab and Haryana high court and the sister of UT home secretary Mandeep Singh Brar; Swati Batra – daughter of former HC judge Lalita Batra; Ruchi Sekhri – a BJP leader from Punjab and Nitin Kaushal, son of Punjab’s former chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal.In all, the appointments of more than 95 law officers as Assistant Advocates-Generals, Deputy Advocates-General, Senior Deputy Advocates-General and Additional Advocates-General have been notified.The case revolves around the alleged stalking of the daughter of a senior Haryana bureaucrat (now retired). Vikas and his friend Ashish Kumar were booked on August 5, 2017, on the complaint filed by Varnika Kundu. The trial in the case is pending before a Chandigarh court.Vikas, now on bail, was allowed to appear in criminology paper under police custody while he was confined in Chandigarh’s Burail jail in the case and was pursuing his law degree from Kurukshetra University.Sources say Vikas was recommended for appointment by a screening committee comprising two retired judges of the high court.The order regarding the appointment was issued by the home secretary on July 18. He, along with five other law officers, were appointed by the Haryana government for the state’s legal cell in Delhi.An advertisement for the appointments/engagements was issued in January. Haryana Law Officers (Engagement) Act, 2016, makes it clear initial scrutiny recommendations are made to government by a selection committee after taking into consideration various professional parameters, including the number of cases handled.An applicant is required to specify whether an FIR has been registered and whether he has been convicted in any case. But the 2016 law bars only appointment/engagement of a person, who has been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude.
Vikas Barala, Haryana BJP MP’s son out on bail in RJ stalking case, appointed law officer
