New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: Despite the opposition raised by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi appeared for four-star bars and assailed the Kerala liquor policy in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Initially, Justice Shiva Kirti Singh told the Attorney-General that there was a plaint opposing his appearance.
Thereafter, Mr Kaleeswaram Raj, counsel for Congress legislator T.N. Pratapan, said he was opposed to the AG appearing for a private party which, he said, was contrary to Articles 76 and 309 of the Constitution.
The counsel told the court that as per Rules 8 and 10 of the Government Law Officers Conditions of Services Rules 1987, the AG should not appear for any private body if the case was against the Union, state governments, PSUs, corporations or any bother body under the control of the government.
Justice Vikramjit Sen, heading the bench, asked, “Who appoints the Attorney-General?” The counsel murmured that he was appointed by the Union Government.
Justice Sen said: “We don’t appoint? Whatever action has to follow, will follow.” “Has the Union of India asked the AG to appear? Anyway we will hear you later,” the bench said, while asking the AG to start his submissions.
The AG said that when five-star hotels were allowed, there was no reason why four-stars should be discriminated against. He said when there were no restrictions on the production, curtailing a section of the bar owners could not be countenanced. He sought quashing of the policy.
State to wait for centre’s stand
Mr Oommen Chandy said in Thiruvananthapuram that since the Supreme Court had made its position clear, the government would wait for the centre’s stand on the Attorney-General appearing for bar owners.
He told DC that he had already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to restrain the AG from appearing in the bar case. “We have received the acknowledgement for the letter. Now we are waiting for the centre’s stand on the issue,” he added.
In the letter sent last month, Mr Chandy had urged the PM to direct the AG to keep off not only from cases against the union government but also state governments, unless the case was against the policy/decision of the centre. He urged Mr Modi to initiate corrective steps in this regard.
Mr Chandy had stated that the AG’s contention was that the bar owners were his clients before he assumed the office. “Mr Rohatgi should have relinquished that commitment. The reasoning that the AG was not appearing against the centre but only against state government is morally and legally incorrect. The statement of the union law minister that there is nothing wrong in the AG's action and that the centre had given him permission is against the federal structure and basic principles of the Constitution,” he said in the letter.
