Protest over demand for removal of Advocate General intensifies
Shillong, Sept 1: Lawyers demanding removal of the state’s Advocate General Amit Kumar have resolved to continue their boycott of courts as their talks with Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Law Minister Lahkmen Rymbui failed to break the deadlock on Tuesday.
The members of bar associations in Meghalaya demonstrated their demand by throwing eggs on a banner bearing the picture of the Advocate General with “go back” written on it.
The protest is being jointly led by the Shillong Bar Association (SBA) and the High Court of Meghalaya Bar Association on behalf of all bar associations in the state, SBA secretary TL Jyrwa said.
The associations that met with the Governor on Saturday took the agitation path on August 27 following no response from the government.
Briefing their meeting with the Chief Justice, the SBA secretary said Justice Dere cautioned that abstention from court work is prohibited under Supreme Court rulings, but also assured coordination.
“The Chief Justice said that the decision we have taken to abstain from court work is something that should not be done because there are Supreme Court rulings that bar us… but we said we have no choice because even after proceeding like this, no one pays attention to our demands,” Jyrwa said.
“She said that from her side she will also try to coordinate or have talks between the Government and us. She said go and reconsider this decision and come back around 2 o’clock and resume work,” he added.
Later, the delegation met Law Minister Lahkmen Rymbui at noon.
Jyrwa termed the meeting unsatisfactory.
“We understand that the talks with the Law Minister were not satisfactory because it did not lead anywhere,” he said, claiming the minister was not aware of the detailed presentation submitted to the Chief Minister and only knew about the boycott resolution.
“He said for those appointments that come from the Law department, he can look into it himself but the demand to remove Amit Kumar has to be decided by the cabinet,” Jyrwa said.
He pointed out that the minister asking for their resolution indicates that the representation sent to the Chief Minister “has not yet been placed before the cabinet.”
Jyrwa said no timeframe was given for examining the appointments nor any assurance on removal of the AG.
Reiterating their charges, Jyrwa said, “Our demand is because Amit Kumar has misused his office by appointing his own people in those cases that are in Meghalaya,” and alleged wasteful expenditure of public funds by engaging outsiders.
He said the agitation began after the AG allegedly disrespected the bar associations by commenting that they are not safe for women, and later more irregularities were found.
On the Chief Minister’s silence, Jyrwa said, “It seems the Chief Minister wants to handle this matter alone… The silence of the Chief Minister on our demand… what we feel is that it is something that is not clean.”
The associations said they are still awaiting talks with the Chief Minister.
