Northern Secretary Peter Hain was accused in the High Court in Belfast yesterday of trying to retain Bertha McDougall as the interim Victims Commissioner despite an earlier ruling that her appointment was improper.
Seamus Treacy QC said: "It is extraordinary that the Secretary of State should seek the indulgence of the court to grant him a form of relief which would allow him to compound the illegality which the court has already found.
"He is also seeking to profit from his misconduct, if I can call it that, because he is seeking to rely on the length of time Mrs McDougall has been in the post.
"Had the true position regarding the appointment been disclosed at an earlier stage then this case would have been disposed of much earlier and the argument now called upon by the Secretary of State would not have been open to him."
Calling for Mrs McDougall to be sacked, Mr Treacy said that Bertha Downes, the widow of a man killed by an RUC plastic bullet, who won a judicial review of the appointment, was now entitled to an order quashing it.
"It would not be proper for the court to exercise its discretion and refuse that," he told Mr Justice Girvan, who has asked the Attorney General to investigate whether Mr Hain and his senior officials deliberately misled the court over how the appointment came to be made.
Mrs McDougall's interim one-year appointment was due to end next Tuesday but the court was told that she was informed on October 31st that her contract was being extended up to the end of January 2007, so that she could complete her annual report.
Paul Maguire QC, for the Secretary of State, said initially that he had been told Mrs McDougall's appointment had not been extended, but after the court adjourned he said he had received information "which may or may not mean that what I said was not correct."
The right course, he said, would be for the Secretary of State to file an affidavit clarifying the position.
Mr Justice Girvan remarked: "That is a pretty central point and I find it very strange that this information has not been furnished to the court."
He directed the Secretary of State to file his affidavit on Monday and adjourned the hearing until a day to be fixed during the last week of the legal term beginning December 18th.