The High Court of Kerala said on Thursday that the Chief Minister should try to make the functioning of the Advocate General’s (AG) office smooth and effective.
Referring to Chief Minster Oommen Chandy’s statement against Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for bar hotel owners in the Supreme Court recently, Justice Alexander Thomas wondered how the Chief Minister could criticise the Attorney General.
Justice Thomas severely criticised the AG’s office on Thursday for its ‘inept handling of government cases.’
‘Police creating terror’
Later in the day, the judge said an undeclared emergency was prevailing in the State with the police creating terror. Referring to the police action against a 35-year-old woman in Kollam in a money lending case, the judge said the Operation Kubera (the wealthy) drive of the police has become anti-Kuchela (the poor) drive. The police should be ashamed of its conduct, the judge lashed out in the packed court room.
Though Advocate General K.P. Dhandapani, Additional Advocate General (AAG) K.A. Jaleel and Director General of Prosecution (DGP) T. Asifali were present in the court, they didn’t respond to the judge’s oral observations. The judge also expressed his displeasure over the police highhandedness against the woman in the case to a government pleader and asked whether he would appreciate such a police action against his sister.
As the judge came down heavily on the police, the AG, AAG and DGP left the court room to meet the Chief Justice at his chamber.
