TMC seeks removal of S-G Tushar Mehta over alleged meeting with Adhikari

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress sought the removal of solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and alleged that the senior lawyer met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Suvendu Adhikari in violation of established norms

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress sought the removal of solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and alleged that the senior lawyer met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Suvendu Adhikari in violation of established norms.

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Mehta denied the meeting and said Adhikari, the leader of Opposition in West Bengal, came to his residence-cum-office in Delhi at 3pm on Thursday, but left without meeting the SG, who was tied up in previous engagements, and expressed his inability to meet the Nandigram MLA.

Adhikari is an accused in the 2016 Narada sting operation case, and Mehta -- the Union government’s second highest law officer -- is representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Supreme Court and Calcutta high court in the agency’s probe against senior TMC leaders in the case.

Casual meetings between judges and lawyers or between law officers and political leaders in social gatherings are not per se improper or frowned upon. In 2018, at a social event organised by a newspaper in Delhi, a Supreme Court judge found himself seated next to a prominent politician whose son – also a politician, had a case being argued before a bench which included that judge.

However, it may not be in keeping with the conventional mores of independence of investigating agency when the agency’s lawyer meets an accused in an unofficial set up like his residence. It may also raise issues of conflict of interest with the statutory duties of the lawyer for the investigating agency whose primary task is to ensure a just and fair investigation and a trial. Any meeting with an accused in a case may also give rise to questions of impropriety of the lawyer, besides integrity of the office if the lawyer happens to be a law officer.

In 2013, the Supreme Court had called the CBI a “caged parrot” on being told that the then Union law minister Ashwani Kumar had made significant changes in the agency’s draft probe report on Coalgate, while top law officers and government officials, including those from the PMO, had suggested amendments.

In November 2014, the Supreme Court had ordered then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to stay out of the 2G case over accusations that he tried to interfere with the probe as purported entry registers at Sinha’s residence showed his meeting the accused in the 2G and Coal scam cases.

A lawyer for an investigating agency may meet an accused who wants to turn an approver and strengthen the prosecution’s case but in all these cases, the accused must be somebody against whom chargesheet has been filed or against whom charges have been framed and he/she has been sent up for trial.

The TMC letter, signed by party MPs Derek O’Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Mahua Moitra, said the alleged meeting between Adhikari and Mehta “reeks of impropriety”.

“Such meeting between an accused in grave offences with the SG, who is advising such agencies by whom the said accused is being investigated, is in direct conflict of interest with the statutory duties of the SG of India,” said the letter, which came a day after Adhikari met Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi.

The MPs said that the alleged meeting was organised to influence the outcome of cases where Adhikari was an accused. They also said the main accused in the 2013 Saradha chit fund scam had levelled serious allegations against Adhikari, who switched from BJP to TMC in 2020.

Notably, Adhikari has not been chargesheeted by CBI despite being initially named as an accused in the case. Hence, at present, there is no question of Adhikari’s trial or his appearance before the special CBI court in the Narada sting case. At the time of filing the chargesheet, the CBI has, however, kept the option of filing a supplementary chargesheet open.

“In order to avoid any doubt in the mind of the public at large, as to the integrity and neutrality of the office of the SG, we approach you to initiate necessary steps for removal of Tushar Mehta from the post of the SG of India,” the letter said.

A few hours later, Mehta denied the meeting.

“Shri Suvendhu Adhikari did come to my residence cum office yesterday at around 3pm, unannounced. Since I was already in a pre-scheduled meeting in my chamber, my staff requested him to sit in the waiting room of my office building,” the SG said in a written statement.

“... When my meeting was over and my staff informed me about his arrival, I requested my staff to convey to Mr Adhikari my inability to meet him and apologise as he had to wait. Mr Adhikari thanked my staff and left without insisting on meeting me. The question of my meeting Mr Adhikari, therefore, does not arise,” the statement further said.

Adhikari, who attended the assembly session in Kolkata on Friday, claimed he could not meet the SG.

The BJP said as leader of the Opposition, Adhikari can meet the SG to discuss legalities.

“The TMC is trying to make an issue out of nothing to divert the attention from other important issues such as post-poll violence, deterioration of law and order in the state and the vaccination scam. Is there is Constitutional bar which says that an elected public representative cannot meet the SG even though he may be an accused in a case?” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson in West Bengal.

The party’s state unit chief Dilip Ghosh said it was up to the TMC to substantiate its claims. “The question is how many persons the TMC would like to be removed from post. they want the governor to be removed because he is vociferous against the government. Now they want the SG to be removed. In future they may want the PM, home minister and even the President to be removed to survive,” he said.