The non-appointment of Mukul Rohtagi as AG exposes tensions between Modi & Jaitley, says VRINDA GOPINATH
June 9, 2014 by Vrinda Gopinath
Like him or hate him but you cannot ignore him, and the irrepressible and feared Supreme Court warhorse Ram Jethmalani is at it again challenging the impending appointment of senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi as Attorney General of India, the government’s chief law officer and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court. Jethmalani has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “Rohtagi is unfit to hold the top legal office as he is neither capable nor loyal to the commitments of the BJP or the Modi Government.”
In a comedy of errors, Rohtagi, who was widely tipped to take over as soon as the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government was sworn into power, has been waiting for over a week and more for his appointment to be announced, but none has come so far. And to add to his embarrassment, Rohtagi has already given several interviews, in anticipation of the appointment, outlining his first priorities and tasks as the NDA government’s new AG. Speaking to several journalists, Rohtagi was expansive when he declared, “My top priority as the AG would be to streamline litigation in the Supreme Court. I will see that the superior courts are not flooded with frivolous and petty litigation,” he had said, and “that we would make all efforts to check the government did not involve itself in inter-ministerial litigation.”
Jethmalani says he cannot fathom how Rohtagi could confidently declare he had got the job when there was no formal notification from the Prime Minister’s Office, and is caustic when he says that the senior advocate is from “Jaitley’s stable.” He is referring to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a prominent member of the Delhi lawyer fraternity himself, and also a powerful colleague of Modi, who has crossed swords with Jethmalani before.
Jethmalani says he is distressed that neither Rohtagi, nor the new Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, or Jaitley, have ever spoken on the BJP’s top priority, to bring back black money to the country. Jethmalani has been in the forefront of the battle, by going to court and successfully getting legal orders to start the process. “It is shocking that both Jaitley and Prasad have never talked of bringing back the thousands of crores of black money stashed away in Swiss banks and other offshore accounts, in their election campaign. Rohtagi too has never shown any interest, though Modi has always raised the black money issue in his rallies. I don’t believe they are serious at all about it, and will only be a hindrance to Modi’s attempts to bring back the black money.”
It must be recalled that Jethmalani was expelled by the BJP in May, last year, for making several allegations of corruption and breach of trust against its top leadership, from then party president Nitin Gadkari, to Jaitley, and Sushma Swaraj. The 90-year-old lawyer was expelled for six years, but the allegations against Gadkari led to Rajnath Singh taking over as BJP president.
Jethmalani is unrepentant when he says that the whole line-up of law officers that will assist the AG are all from the same “stable.” They include senior lawyers who are likely to be named, Pinky Anand, Maninder Singh, Aman Lekhi, Sanjay Jain, Indu Malhotra and Neeraj Kishan Kaul. “The government must be represented by lawyers who are committed to the country not any person,” seethes Jethmalani, “and shouldn’t the Attorney General at least be versed in constitutional law? Rohtagi has no experience here.”
He waves away Modi’s familiarity and ease with Rohtagi as he has appeared for the Gujarat Government in several cases, from the 2002 riots cases, Best Bakery and Zaheera Sheikh cases. “Rohtagi may have appeared for the Gujarat Government but he was paid his fees in full and lavishly, so there is no question he has done any honorary work for Modi or anyone else. As a citizen of this country, I want to make sure only the best law officer is appointed and I am sorry to say Rohtagi falls very short of this office.”
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