Panchayat poll fiasco: Punjab mulls replacing AG Vinod Ghai over 'poor professional guidance'

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

chandigarh, September 16

Cornered over the controversy surrounding the withdrawal of the recently announced panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad elections, the Punjab Government is mulling replacing Advocate General Vinod Ghai. Confirming the development, highly placed sources in the Chief Minister’s office said “there have been discussions at the highest level on the continuance of the current AG in the wake of certain controversial inputs received from his office. We have found poor professional guidance on important issues, including the government efforts of providing ration on the doorstep of the beneficiaries. He could not defend the government efforts of doing away with depot holders, who wanted their share as middlemen in the scheme.”

Sources said the government was taking a call on a “pile of complaints against his unsatisfactory services” in several other cases ever since he took over.

It was pointed out that in the past, the AG has also been associated with defending controversial Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a sacrilege case. His name was also associated with defending the case of former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu who is under investigation for his role in the alleged grain lifting scam.