In or out? Drama over resignation of Punjab advocate general continues
While Punjab advocate general office says he had quit but his resignation wasn’t accepted, CMO claims no official communiqué received from AG Deol’s side
There was more confusion over the resignation of Punjab advocate general APS Deol on Tuesday as a letter purportedly written by the state’s top law officer went viral on the social media, claiming that he had quit.
The chief minister’s office, however, denied receiving any such letter and claimed that the AG had not resigned.
The AG office said Deol had quit but his resignation was not accepted. “We have also received some calls (about the letter), but we don’t know if it is genuine or fake. No official communiqué has been received from the AG so far. He just attended a few meetings with CM Charanjit Singh Channi ,” said a senior government functionary at the CMO.
Earlier, a message went viral on the social media, saying, ‘The AG has submitted his resignation and the additional chief secretary has been told to process his request as per norms’. The copy of the resignation letter on the social media is “signed in Deol’s name” with date November 1.
The AG is learnt to have the met the chief minister late in the evening. Deol was appointed to the top post on September 27 following the departure of Atul Nanda, who stepped down as Advocate-General after the resignation of Captain Amarinder Singh as chief minister of Punjab.
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, along with several other party leaders in the state, had objected to APS Deol’s appointment. Sidhu has been pressing for Deol’s removal citing that the senior criminal lawyer had defended ex-DGP Sumedh Saini in cases related to police firing in Bargari sacrilege.