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TMC team meets President seeking S-G’s removal
A two-member Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday in New Delhi and sought the removal of solicitor general Tushar Mehta for alleged misconduct and impropriety, the party announced at a press conference
A two-member Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday in New Delhi and sought the removal of solicitor general Tushar Mehta for alleged misconduct and impropriety, the party announced at a press conference.
TMC had earlier sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same reason in which it had alleged that Mehta, the Union government’s second highest law officer, met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Nandigram in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, who is also an accused in the 2016 Narada sting tapes case that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been investigating. Mehta is representing CBI in the case in Calcutta high court and the Supreme Court.
“The meeting was not only biased and there was a conflict of interest, but the SG also allowed an accused to come to his residence and have a meeting. The TMC has demanded the immediate resignation of the SG on grounds of gross misconduct and impropriety, failing which we hope the President will investigate and take action,” said Mahua Moitra, TMC’s Lok Sabha MP who was part of the delegation that also had MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy. They presented a memorandum to the President demanding Mehta’s removal.
While both Mehta and Adhikari have denied meeting each other at the SG’s residence in Delhi on July 1, TMC upped the ante on Monday and said that the SG should reveal CCTV footage to support his claim.
“Even after 72 hours, Mr Tushar Mehta, Hon’ble SG of India, has failed to release the 20 mins of CCTV footage of his OWN HOUSE to corroborate his OWN STATEMENT. Mr SG, with such weak defence you can continue serving as @BJP4India’s SECRET GENERAL, not INDIA’S SOLICITOR GENERAL,” tweeted Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew.
Mehta had said on Friday that Adhikari, the leader of opposition in West Bengal, came to his residence-cum-office in Delhi at 3pm on July 1, but left without meeting him as he was preoccupied.
“The SG in his statements said he was busy and hence could not meet Adhikari. Adhikari went there without prior appointment. How did he enter the SG’s house and sit there for 30 minutes without the SG’s approval? This means any accused in a CBI case can enter the SG’s residence unannounced and have tea for 30 minutes,” said Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, TMC’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha.
BJP hit back at TMC, saying that chief minister Mamata Banerjee is not reading the people’s verdict right. The party’s West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh said the people of the state want Banerjee to be removed.
“TMC’s slogan in the assembly election was ‘Bengal wants its own daughter’. But Mamata Banerjee lost the polls, and it is now proved that Bengal doesn’t want her. But she still became the CM through the back door,” Ghosh said, adding that the state government should instead talk about holding civic elections that are pending.
The solicitor general is appointed for a period of three years by the Appointment Committee of Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister. SG’s office and duties are governed by Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987, and it is thus a statutory post. An SG can resign before the end of tenure and upon acceptance of his/her resignation, the ACC can appoint a new SG.
