Chhattisgarh row: New Attorney General named, his predecessor says never quit

The orders to appoint Satish Chandra Verma were issued by state Law Department late Friday night, hours after Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel told reporters that Tiwari’s resignation had been received and accepted.

In what the Opposition is calling a “constitutional crisis”, the Congress government in Chhattisgarh has appointed Satish Chandra Verma the state’s Advocate General, replacing Kanak Tiwari, who has alleged that he has not sent a resignation letter.

The orders to appoint Verma were issued by state Law Department late Friday night, hours after Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel told reporters that Tiwari’s resignation had been received and accepted. Tiwari, a 78-year-old senior advocate and Congressman, however, has maintained that he has not resigned and pointed to deeper problems between the government and the AG’s office. He said that while he “would have gone if they wanted me to… this is clearly not the way”.

Baghel Friday said he has seen Tiwari’s resignation. “He has expressed his inability to continue and we have accepted his proposal,” he said.

Except, Tiwari told The Sunday Express he has not resigned and that some other letter must have been treated as a resignation. “I have sent in no resignation, and have had no need to do so either. I have discharged my duties honourably, and this is not a good way to treat a Constitutional post,” he said.

“Some time ago, I had written to the government about some requirements such as additional lawyers, and some other things. The last line of that letter was to suggest that without these improvements the AG’s office will find it difficult to function. I am told that is being treated as a resignation. But how can that be treated as such?”

At around 11 pm Friday, the government issued a notification which said, “The Governor of Chhattisgarh is pleased to appoint Shri Satish Chandra Verma… as Advocate General Chhattisgarh in place of Shri Kanak Tiwari with immediate effect.”

Sources in the office of Governor in-charge Anandiben Patel said, “Madam has cleared the appointment of Satish Chandra Verma as the new Advocate General because the incumbent AG Kanak Tiwari offered to step down.”

Speaking to The Sunday Express, Tiwari indicated that all had not been well between the government and the AG’s office over the past few months, pointing fingers at Verma, who is considered close to the Chief Minister.

Verma has often handled Baghel’s cases in court, including sensitive ones such as the case in which Baghel was accused of disseminating a fake explicit CD of then PWD minister Rajesh Munat when the BJP was in power.

Tiwari said that there had been differences of opinion on SITs that the Congress has opened against the previous government that has drawn criticism for “vendetta politics.”

With many of these cases now facing setbacks in court, Tiwari said, “In some of these SITs, my opinion as AG was not even taken on board, which the government must do as per the constitution. My successor was seemingly doing these things and we have faced setbacks. I repeatedly sent messages to the government, to secretaries that this is not the way, that this haste would lead to their Waterloo. And so it has been in court. In fact, in the cases I have been involved in, we have received positive judgements.”

Satish Chandra Verma, the newly appointed AG, said, “I cannot comment on any of this. The government will be the right agency to answer.”

On Saturday, Mohammad Akbar, Law Minister said, “Tiwari had expressed his inability to continue to work. That is why a new AG was appointed. This appointment has permission from the Governor. He had indicated that he did not want to continue… We do not want a debate on this issue, and this has been done with all paperwork followed, and therefore should not be made an issue,” he said.

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