Kochi: Irked by the remarks made by Justice Alexander Thomas, 120-odd government pleaders on Friday filed a representation before Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan seeking his intervention in the matter.
The pleaders alleged that Justice Alexander Thomas had conducted the court proceedings in such a thoroughly unprofessional manner that it demoralised the government pleaders.
He had orally observed that it was better to wind up the Advocate-General's Office. Government pleader P.I. Davis handed over the representation to the CJ on behalf of the government pleaders.
The AG’s office staff also filed a representation before the CJ seeking his intervention. The representation urged the CJ to take appropriate steps to ensure that the goodwill and reputation of the constitutional office of the Advocate-General was not tarnished and the services of the government pleaders and the staff of the Advocate-General’s office were not underestimated.
The representation stated that many government pleaders, especially certain women government pleaders attached to the court of Justice Alexander Thomas, had walked out of the court with tearful eyes due to the undignified comments made by him.
The government pleaders have also been facing much difficulty to handle cases, since he does not follow the number pattern maintained by every court.
The practice of random pick and choose from the admission and petition list without following calling of cases serial-wise is also causing difficulty to the GPs, the representation said. “Justice Alexander Thomas, who was a government pleader during the LDF regime, had been criticising the present batch by comparing them to the batch of GPs who worked along with him,” they said.
Justice Alexander Thomas had been consistently making out-of-place observations based on his personal philosophies and prejudices. “He often went to the extent of making adverse and sweeping remarks pointing at the character, competence and integrity of the state law officers as a whole, particularly the Advocate-General. In fact, the Supreme Court had cautioned the High Courts that they should refrain from making one-sided sweeping remarks,” the pleaders said.
The scathing criticism by the judge had lowered the esteem of the entire law officers before the general public. According to top sources, senior judges of the High Court held a meeting at the court and the Chief Justice held discussions with Justice Alexander Thomas.
Meanwhile, Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty reposed his faith in Advocate-General K.P. Dandapani. Mr Kunhalikkutty added that the AG had a 90 percent conversion rate while defending the matters of the state.
