Additional Advocate General-cum-Standing Counsel for Arunachal Pradesh in the Supreme Court, Anil Srivastav, resigned from his post on Monday after representing the state government before the apex court for more than three decades.
Srivastav submitted his resignation in a letter addressed to the Secretary of the state Law Department. He had handled a wide range of cases concerning Arunachal Pradesh during his long tenure as the state’s counsel in the Supreme Court.
His resignation assumes significance amid a recent controversy over the state government’s representation before the Supreme Court in a case involving allegations of irregularities in the award of government contracts to firms allegedly linked to relatives of Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
Khandu had recently criticised members of the state’s standing counsel team for allegedly failing to appear during a crucial hearing before the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister had said the absence of the state’s legal representatives prevented the government from placing records and evidence before the court regarding its cooperation with the CBI investigation.
“As the state was unrepresented, the Supreme Court heard only the CBI’s account regarding the missing files and the difficulties in gathering the required data,” Khandu had said.
According to the Chief Minister, the situation resulted in a misunderstanding and prompted the Supreme Court to direct the state Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Home) to appear personally before it on August 24.
Srivastav’s resignation comes against this backdrop, although no reason for his decision was immediately available beyond the resignation letter submitted to the Law Department.
The senior counsel had represented Arunachal Pradesh in the Supreme Court for over 30 years, appearing in cases concerning various legal and constitutional matters related to the state.
