The legal fraternity has been shaken by the growing differences between the Union government and its top law officers, culminating in Harin Raval resigning as the additional solicitor-general today.
Vivek Tankha, former additional solicitor-general for three years till 2012, said, "It is shocking and we are shaken by the news that is floating around. There is an element of disbelief. It has never happened in the past, where accusations have been made that the government tried to interfere in status reports. I have worked with two law ministers, M Veerappa Moily and Salman Khurshid, and handled cases ranging from 2G spectrum allocation to National Rural Health Mission scams and never shared details of status reports. As law officers, we are not supposed to take sides."
However, there is a section of lawyers who believe that there is no reason to read too much into the differences. "It is a case of a client and a lawyer and there is no reason to read too much into the issue," said Altaf Ahmed, a former additional solicitor-general.
'Law officers must not attend govt meetings'
Rajeev Dhawan
The law officers of the government must not forget that they are independent professionals as well. They must not attend meetings of the government, unless these are administrative. He (law officer) must remember he's not a hit man of the government, he's a professional and Attorney- General G E Vahanvati has violated each of these principles. The government does not allow its law officers to breathe in an independent way.
He can't break the professional confidentiality and become a whistle blower. He can't release to the press a letter he has written to Vahanvati. This is unprofessional. If he did not want to continue he should have resigned, this kind of behaviour is incorrect.
The present government also does not have a strong law officers team. Unfortunately the government does not allow its law officers to breathe in an independent way. Rather than just seeking independent advice it seeks and gets the advice it wants. The resignation of former solicitor generals Gopal Subramaniam and Rohinton Nariman could well be personality based but both of them were forthright and felt that their independence had been compromised.
Dhawan is a senior SC advocate.
( As told to Kavita Chowdhury)
