Kerala High Court blasts Advocate-General’s ‘inefficient’ office
Kochi: Kerala High Court witnessed unprecedented scenes on Thursday after a single bench said that the Advocate-General’s (AG) office should be wound up as it was inefficient.
Pursuant to the remarks, the state’s top lawyers appeared before the court and later in the day AG K.P. Dandapani and others visited Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan to complain against the judge, Justice Alexander Thomas.
According to top sources, the state's legal team will file a formal complaint before the Chief Justice against the judge.
Justice Alexander Thomas orally observed that there was an undeclared emergency in the state and criticised the AG's office calling it inefficient to do its duty. Mr Dandapani, Director-General of Prosecutions T. Asaf Ali, Additional Advocate-General K.A. Jaleel and state prosecutor S. Vijayaraghavan appeared before the court.
“Though the office boasts of 120 government pleaders, the conduct of government cases is not proper. The AG's office is not taking efforts to comply with the orders passed by the courts,” the judge observed.
This is the second such instance after senior advocate K. P. Dandapani was sworn in as AG. Earlier, Justice Harun-ul-Rashid had also criticised the conduct of government lawyers.
The single bench expressed its displeasure while considering various matters related to money-laundering and pleas against the Vigilance. On one occasion, a government pleader failed to hand over a copy of the affidavit filed by the state which irked the judge.
The judge also observed that the Advocate-General shall follow Tamil Nadu AG’s office.
While dealing with cases like Mullaperiyar dam issue, Tamil Nadu AG's office was working efficiently. “If time permits, the AG should visit Tamil Nadu AG,” the court said.
It also observed that if the appointment of government pleaders was made considering the political alliance of a particular lawyer, he would have done a better job.
Most government pleaders appearing for the state are nominees of top businessmen or liquor barons. The court also pulled up Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for criticising Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi for appearing in the bar case. The judge said that the AG was unnecessarily shuffling pleaders.
Even good government pleaders were forced to change from the courts. The AG and his team met Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan at 4.45 p.m. at the latter's chamber. Mr Dandapani, however, said that the meeting was not related to the adverse remarks made by the judge.
When asked why the AG and other legal officers appeared before the court after it made certain observations, the AG said that a petition filed seeking a High Court- monitored probe in the bar case was pending before the court and the same was listed on Thursday.
Mr Dandapani refused to comment on the adverse remarks passed by the court. At the cabinet briefing, Mr Oommen Chandy said the AG’s office was functioning effectively and that he was satisfied with its work.
“I have full trust in their functioning,” he told reporters. He was replying to questions whether the government would look into the functioning of the AG’s office in the wake of the High Court’s criticism.
