Pacifying Sidhu on AG appointment row-has Punjab govt found the way?
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
Yesterday, Punjab Pradesh congress committee president Navjot Singh Sidhu had tendered his resignation to the party supremo Sonia Gandhi, citing 5-6 reasons.
One point on which Sidhu has tendered his resignation was the appointment of A.P.S. Deol as advocate general (AG), Punjab because he was the lawyer of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, who is being investigated for his alleged role in the killing of two Sikh protesters in Behbal Kalan in 2015 when the SAD-BJP combine was in power in the state.
Sidhu was pushing for the appointment of senior advocate D.S. Patwalia as AG but his name was rejected by the party high command on the grounds that his elder brother P.S. Patwalia was an additional solicitor general of India in the NDA government.
Now it seems, Punjab government has found a middle path .Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi said that Punjab government is looking after a senior public prosecutor having team of 10-12 advocates, to fight special cases of Punjab government in the courts.
This way the state government wants to hit two targets with one arrow- keeping the appointment of APS Deol as AG Punjab intact and appointing a special prosecutor for special cases, which might be Bhebal Kalan, sacrilege cases, power purchase agreements etc , on which they are talking from the last few months. The information was shared by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, himself in a press conference, after the cabinet meeting ended.
Pacifying Sidhu on AG appointment row-Punjab govt found the way?Sidhu was feeling that in appointing APS Deol as AG Punjab even the Channi government has made it clear that they are not serious about the firing, sacrilege and other inportant issues
APS Deol, who became a senior advocate in 2007, was in the reckoning for the AG’s post in 2017 as well when Capt Amarinder Singh took over as the CM.
September 29,2021
