It all began with High Court judge Alexander Thomas remarking that the AG’s office should be closed down and all the government pleaders sacked. The judge said, “Here we have 120 pleaders. And the majority of them are nominees of somebody including abkaris(liquor contractors). Even those at the top of the Advocate General’s office are nominees of somebody, including abkaris, and the present situation is due to this.”

The proximate cause of the judge’s ire was the persistent refusal of the pleaders to abide by the court’s directions. The lapse on the part of the pleaders drew the caustic remark from the judge that “One should learn how an advocate general’s office should function from that of Tamil Nadu. Learn how the cases are being conducted there, including the Mullaperiyar case.”

The judge made particular mention of the Mullaperiyar case because it was a casual remark by the AG’s team that cost Kerala dear in the case against Tamil Nadu.

Justice Thomas’s ruling came in a case in which a lawyer filed - and won - a civil suit against the police. The judge knew the lawyer, who was a certified teetotaller. However, he was later booked by police for alleged drunken driving. The police action forced the judge to say that there was an undeclared emergency in the state with the police creating terror!

The judge also referred to another case in which the police acted high-handedly against a woman in a money-lending case. Justice Thomas said ‘Operation Kubera’(drive against money-lenders) had become a drive against kuchelas. The judge pointedly asked the government pleader whether he would appreciate such police action against his sister.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, however defended the AG by expressing full confidence in him. He went to the extent of claiming that the AG had never lost a case for the state! A claim that flies in the face of facts. He also criticised the judge saying that if he had known the complainant, he should have stayed away from hearing it!

The Chief Minister’s claim was hotly contested by the Opposition parties. Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan said the CM was misleading the Assembly when he claimed that the AG had not lost a single case for the state.

It may be mentioned that Justice Thomas was not the first judge to pass adverse remarks against the AG. In 2013, another HC judge had criticised the inefficiency and lack of merit of the government pleaders.

Allegations of police bias came when the AG’s office failed, despite the court orders, to confiscate the telephone records of the Chief Minister’s former gunman, Salim Raj in a land grab case against the latter.

In the Mullaperiyar case which Kerala lost, VS pointed out, that the AG had been administered a warning by the state cabinet for his casual remark that if the Mullaperiyar dam bursts, the force of the waters could be absorbed by the Idukki dam! The AG’s remarks cost the state dear and benefited Tamil Nadu, which scored a significant victory in the Supreme Court.

As if all this was not enough, the AG could not win the case for the Government in the plus two case either.

Achuthanandan recalled that the AG had moved the High Court against a verdict by the Thrissur vigilance court in the palmolein case in which the CM was allegedly involved. While dismissing the petition filed by the Government, the judge had made scathing remarks against the AG, who did not have the courage to move the Supreme Court, VS alleged.

This being the case, the CM ‘s contention that AG has not lost a single case is nothing but a tissue of lies and amounts to misleading the State Assembly, VS added.

Last but not the least, there was apparently a conflict of interest because the AG is running a private office even while holding a constitutional post; and the government pleaders do not oppose cases handled by this private office run by the AG. Therefore, Justice Thomas was on a strong wicket when severely criticized the AG’s office for inept handling of government cases.

Meanwhile, the All India Lawyers Union has filed a petition for initiation of contempt proceedings against Minister, K C Joseph, a close confidant of the CM, for his comment against Justice Alexander Thomas. In his facebook comment, the Minister had dubbed the judge as ‘a fox in a paint bucket’. It may be mentioned that Joseph had on earlier occasions also made uncharitable remarks against two other judges – Justice Haroon-ul-Rashid and Justice SS Satheeshchandran – for their remarks while performing their judicial functions.

It is clear from the instances mentioned above that the claim of the CM and his aides of having utmost respect for the judiciary are nothing but a sham. (IPA Service)