Kochi: Reaffirming support to the government pleaders, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday said his government would oppose any move to demoralise its law officers.
While addressing their meeting in Kochi, he also made it clear that his government did not want a confrontation with the judiciary.
He convened the meeting, first of its kind, to instill confidence in the lawyers after the High Court criticised Advocate General's office at least three times in a month.
Sources said the GPs, in a closed-door meeting with the chief minister, shared their anguish and despair over the adverse remarks made by Justice Alexander Thomas.
The GPs, who appeared for the government, explained what happened in the controversial land grab case to him, law minister K. M. Mani, law secretary B. G. Harindranath and other officials.
The lawyers conducted a threadbare analysis of the case. "A lawyer told the CM that the judge was acting in a prejudiced manner, hindering them from defending the government efficiently," said a top source. “The CM interacted with them for close to 50 minutes”.
Director general of prosecution T. Asaf Ali, meanwhile, supported AG K. P. Dandapani and said the whole legal team was behind him. He added that the AG was doing a tremendous job in uniting all the GPs in a systematic manner. Mr Chandy said the government was satisfied with the functioning of the AG and the law officers under him.
"If there is substance in criticism, the government is ready to correct. We are not intolerant to criticism. Pleaders should consider the criticisms from the judge in a positive way and should work harder than ever to prove all the critics wrong," he said.
"We should respect the judiciary and join hands to provide better service to the society. There is no conflict between the government and judiciary and there shouldn’t be any”.
Mr Chandy in his brief speech also tried to motivate the lawyers and asked them to be more alert and rectify their mistakes, if any. He lauded the victories of the state's legal team in Italian shooting case, bar case and others.
He said there had not been even a single "special engagement" since the UDF government came to power to defend their cases. Mr Mani also said he had confidence in the team.
The government should convene meetings with all the lawyers at least thrice a year, he said.
