Government to appoint a new AG by December 30

Mumbai: The state government informed the Bombay High Court that it is going to appoint a full time Advocate General (AG) by December 30th. This action has come into place after a petition was filed by Congress MLC, Sanjay Dutt. A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai was hearing the petition filed by Dutt, where he alleged that from March 2016, after the resignation of advocate general Shrihari Aney the state government had appointed Acting AG, Rohit Deo and still they haven’t filled up the position of an AG.

He also stated that according to the Article 165 of the Indian constitution, state government has to appoint an AG when the position is vacant, since many cases are get affected due to this and has appealed the state to appoint a full time Advocate General as soon as possible. On December 8, Neeraj Dhote, legal Adviser and joint secretary, law and judiciary department, had filed an affidavit in the High Court stating that the state government will take the decision regarding the appointment of advocate general according to the provision mentioned in the article 165 of the constitution of India.

Earlier the court told the state government that in some cases petitioners have challenged the constitutional validity of the statement issued by the acting advocate general. The court has also added that many constitutional and statutory matters are pending due to the absence of an advocate general. After not hearing anything from the government, the court has warned the state government to give a fixed date of the appointment of the advocate general and has kept the matter on hold.