Chandigarh August 7:
Virtually functioning without a head since Punjab Advocate General (AG) Hardev Singh Mattewal suffered a heart attack in May, the AG office on Friday got a four-member committee to manage day-to-day affairs.
The constitution of a committee has raised a dust of controversy with a faction of lawyers referring it just like a constitution of a “corporate body”. “The AG office is not a corporate body, which can be run by a board of directors,” said an offended advocate.
Aggrieved, a section of lawyers is planning to meet the State Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to oppose the issue. This is for the first time in the State that a committee has been constituted in the absence of the AG. The advocates pressed that the Article 165 of the Constitution provides for appointment of an advocate-general for advising the courts or Government on legal matters, while there is “no provision for having a committee to manage day-to-day affairs”.
Mattewal has been hospitalised since May 13 after he suffered a massive heart attack, and is under treatment in New Delhi. As per the orders, singed by Punjab principal secretary, Department of Home Affairs and Justice, NS Kang, the four additional advocates-general - Rupinder Khosla, Chetan Mittal, HS Sidhu and Sukhdeep Singh Bhinder — have been made the members of the committee to manage the affairs.
“In view of the non-availability of HS Mattewal, advocate-general, Punjab, on account of his illness, the Governor of Punjab is pleased to form the committee of additional advocates-general to manage the day-to-day functioning of the advocate-general’s office,” read the order.