M K Damodaran declined post: Kerala Govt tells High Court

Kochi: Putting an end to the debate over the impropriety of senior counsel M.K. Damodaran appearing in cases against the state, the government on Tuesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that Mr Damodaran had declined to take up the post of official legal adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Additional advocate general K.K. Ravindranath made the submission before a Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman when a writ petition filed by Kummanam Rajasekharan, president, BJP state unit, challenging the government order appointing Mr Damodaran as Official Legal Adviser to the Chief Minister came up for hearing.

The additional AG submitted that though the order appointing him as the Chief Minister’s legal adviser was issued on June 9, 2016, Mr Damodaran had informed the government that he did not intend to take charge as the Official Legal Adviser to the Chief Minister. Mr Kummanam had argued that there is an advocate general to advise the Chief Minister and the government in all legal matters and hence the appointment of the senior lawyer was illegal.

Senior counsel S. Gopakumaran Nair, appearing for Mr Kummanam, argued that the legal adviser not joining duty does not suffice. The legal question was whether the state government could create the post of legal adviser to the Chief Minster when the state government had the power to appoint an advocate general in terms of the Constitution, should be considered. The court adjourned the case for detailed hearing. The court posted the case to July 21 to discuss the legal implications of the post created by state.