Kerala High Court Bar Association President Writes To Governor Seeking Removal Of Advocate General, Alleges Collusion With 'Narcotic Lobby' & 'Land Lobby'
|The President of the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA), Advocate Yeshwanth Shenoy has written to the Governor of Kerala seeking withdrawal of pleasure and removal of the Advocate General of Kerala, Senior Advocate K. Gopalakrishna Kurup.
Shenoy has written to the Governor alleging that the Advocate General has refused to act in accordance with the Constitution and has stated that there is evidence that "various lobbies" have "entrenched into the office of the Advocate General".
Shenoy alleges that the AG has undermined the authority of the Supreme Court by challenging the order of the Supreme Court before the High Court, resulting in the loss of hundreds of crores of revenue for the State. The State had filed a Writ Petition challenging an order of the NGT, which had been upheld by the Supreme Court with a speaking order. "It may be seen that the Senior Government Pleader, Adv. S. Kannan signed of the Writ Petition as ‘with AG’. This clearly shows that the AG was fully aware of the draft and the contents of the Writ. The Senior Government Pleader and the AG were fully aware that the order in O.A No.244 of 2017 did not exist as the same had merged with the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Civil Appeal as well as the Review", the letter says.
Yeshwannth Shenoy had earlier approached the Supreme Court challenging the order of the High Court refusing to permit him to implead in the said Writ Petition. The Supreme Court had passed an order disposing of the Writ Petition filed by the State Government before the High Court as withdrawn. The said order also recorded that Shenoy had withdrawn his allegations against the Advocate General and the State Law Officers, made in his petition before the Apex Court. "...my withdrawal of allegations made in affidavit due to an impropriety does not take away my right to raise a Statutory complaint with you because the actions of the Advocate General and the Senior Government Pleader mentioned is causing loss of revenue to the State of Kerala as well as puts the life and property of the people of Kerala in peril", Shenoy says in his letter written in his personal capacity to the Governor.
Shenoy says in the letter, "...even after the withdrawal of the Writ Petition from the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala because of the nudge given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the five Writ Petitions... represent only the tip of the iceberg. In addition to these 5 quarries that approached the Hon’ble High Court of Kerala, going by the admission of the State, there are still about 85 more quarries operating illegally in the State".
Shenoy then refers to the allegation made by him in the letter he addressed to the Chief Justice of India about retired Justice Mary Joseph about NDPS case convicts being released from prison without the Judge writing a Judgment in their appeals against conviction. "The Criminal Appeals filed by all 5 convicts were allowed on 31.07.23 and they were released on the strength of a ‘release order’ and not a Judgment. The AG office applied for a certified copy for all these Judgments on 1.8.2023. However, even after the retirement of Justice Mary Joseph when the Judgments were not available with them, they remained silent which clearly indicates that the prosecutors too colluded with these convicts", the letter says.
Shenoy says that after his complaint to the Chief Justice, retired Justice Mary Joseph colluded with the Registry officials and uploaded the Judgments in the said NDPS cases and that those Judgements were transmitted to the AG's office online and yet the AG's office did not take urgent steps to approach the Supreme Court.
Shenoy also alleges that the Advocate General’s office and the prosecutors did not file an appeal against the Judgment of the High Court in the matter of Gangadharan Vs. State [Neutral Citation: 2023:KER: 82349], which according to Shenoy will cause havoc in the State as regards prosecuting NDPS cases.
"There are several cases where certain Prosecutors have colluded with the Narcotic offenders and deliberately misled the Hon’ble High Court in granting bails to accused in Narcotic offences. The apprehension of Narcotic offenders itself is an onerous task and when the state law officers collude to set them free it brings down the morale of the officers working hard to control the menace of narcotics in the society", the letter says.
Shenoy in his letter alleges that the State lost forest and revenue lands to private landholders due to the actions/inactions of the State Law Officers. "There were specific complaints made against certain Government Pleaders with the office of the Advocate General and for reasons best known to him, no action has been taken against such government pleaders nor have they been removed from handling those matters. This clearly shows that the actions of those government pleaders have the tacit support of the Advocate General", Shenoys says in the letter and mentions the names of a Government Pleader.
"I am watching the acts of the office of the Advocate General and the Government Pleaders closely and any attempt to mislead the Hon’ble Court and cause loss to the State of Kerala will be exposed. Since these matters have been pending in the Hon’ble Court for over a decade, there are enough and more reports of officials that would prevent any act of the State Government to dole out lands belonging to the State and its people into private hands", the letter says.
The letter refers to a recent order of a Single Judge of the High Court highlighting the 'casual approach' of State's law officers.
"I have presented clear evidence of the various lobbies that seem to entrenched into the office of the Advocate General. There is clear evidence that the Advocate General is aware of these issues and has refused to act in accordance with the Constitution. The Advocate General seemed to have placed himself as an agent of the State rather than assert his position as a Constitutional Authority. In the circumstances pointed out, I would request your goodself to withdraw your pleasure and remove the Advocate General from his office", the letter says.
Click here to read/download the Letter