Mukesh Berry resigns as Punjab Additional Advocate-General

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 10

In a major embarrassment for the Punjab Government, an Additional Advocate-General on Wednesday resigned from the post just two days after his appointment, after asking it not to ridicule and diminish the stature of senior advocates.

The assertion came in reference to the government’s decision to accept senior advocate APS Deol’s resignation from the Advocate-General’s post just over a month after his appointment. In a letter addressed to Punjab Principal Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, Anurag Verma, Mukesh Berry asserted he was tendering his resignation without commenting upon the government’s decision to accept Deol’s resignation.

Making it clear that he was unwilling to continue a moment longer, Berry made it clear that the resignation would be deemed to be accepted from the date of its submission, which was today itself.

“Having remained elected representative of the advocates as a member of the Bar Council of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for 27 years and also the chairman of the same and in continuous service as law officer in the office of Advocate-General, Punjab, for 28 years, I would request the government not to ridicule and diminish the status and dignity of the Senior Advocates of this High Court,” Berry added.

Berry, along with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa’s son-in-law Tarun Vir Singh Lehal, was appointed Additional Advocate-General by the Channi-government on November 8. Lehal’s appointment virtually led to an uproar, with the Opposition alleging nepotism.

The Advocate-General’s office has even otherwise been courting controversy ever since the change of guard with the taking over of Charanjit Singh Channi as the Chief Minister after replacing Capt Amarinder Singh.

The government took about eight days to appoint the Advocate-General after Atul Nanda stepped down from the post. It initially finalised three names in quick succession for the post, leading to confusion and a general perception of indecisiveness.

Available information suggests the post of state Advocate-General was initially promised to senior advocate D.S. Patwalia. In an earlier last-minute turnaround, the government reportedly cleared the name of senior advocate Anmol Rattan Singh Sidhu for the post.

But the government eventually appointed Deol, who was at one point of time the counsel for former top-cop Sumedh Singh Saini and IG Paramraj Singh Umaranangal, both accused in the Behbal Kalan police firing case. The appointment, though a matter of surmises since long, came as a surprise as the incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing in Faridkot district’s Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015, have always been considered politically sensitive.

His appointment also generated debate on the issue of conflict of interest primarily on the ground that Deol, being Saini and Umaranangal’s counsel, would neither be able to appear nor advise the State in their cases and related matters.

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