The Hindu : AG leaves Beeran issue to Government

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

AG leaves Beeran issue to Government

By Our Special Correspondent

KOCHI, JAN. 20. The Advocate General, M. Ratna Singh, has indicated that it will be better for the Government to have the allegations against the Additional Advocate General, V. K. Beeran, investigated by `expert agencies' which have the wherewithal to go into all aspects of the case.

In a confidential report sent to the Government on January 9, a copy of which was obtained by today, Mr. Ratna Singh says that, given the nature of the allegations against Mr. Beeran, the machinery at his command has certain limitations in conducting a genuine investigation. "These are matters normally examined or investigated by expert agencies and therefore, I leave the matter to your good self," he told the Government.

The Government had asked for Mr. Ratna Singh's report following allegations from different quarters, including an anonymous organisation called `Advocate General Office Employees' Coordination Committee'. The former Forest Secretary, E. K. Bharat Bhooshan, too had come out in the open stating that only a detailed probe could reveal why the Government was losing a majority of the forest-related cases in the courts.

Mr. Bhooshan, at a recent press conference, referred to a High Court judgment condemning the `unholy nexus' existing between the forest mafia, Government advocates and officials in the State and went on to say that he had reasons to feel this nexus was still continuing.

Mr. Ratna Singh's report also hints at the existence of such a nexus as early as 1982, when one of the cases that has become the subject of the present allegations first reached the High Court.

He says that in a case relating to 400 acres of land taken over by the Government under the Vesting of Forests Act, the High Court, in 1982, ordered the release of the entire land to the petitioner, N. M. Ahammedkutty Haji, on the basis of concessions made in open court by the then Additional Advocate General.

Mr. Ratna Singh describes how the State Assembly subsequently amended the Vesting of Forests Act to give the Government the power to file appeal for review of forest cases that had been lost on the basis of concessions made in the court by the Government advocates without the authority in writing of the Government or due to failure to produce the correct particulars in the court.

When the Government went in appeal on the Ahammedkutty Haji case, Mr. Beeran proceeded to Delhi and argued the matter in the Supreme Court in 1993.

Mr. Ratna Singh continues: "I asked Mr. Beeran... why and under what circumstances did he go and appear in such an important matter in the Supreme Court, particularly when senior counsel(s) like Sri. K.K. Venugopal and Sri Santhosh Hegde were appearing in that case. He replied... that he had appeared only because he was asked by the then Government to go over to Delhi and conduct the case. But I did not find any such authorisation in the records."

He says, "Since the judgment (on this case, which was lost by the Government) is only a one-line order (saying that `special leave petition is dismissed'), it is not discernible, nor am I able to state how and in what manner Mr. Beeran had presented the case. Therefore, I leave the above said matter for your inference."

Another "allegation against Mr. Beeran is that he is appearing in an SLP 4487/00 on behalf of the Government and supporting the opposite side... It is also urged that his son Haris is appearing on the opposite side... All that I can say is that Mr. Beeran is appearing in that case. I never asked him to appear, nor do I have any material to show that he was directed by the Government to appear in this case... I am also not in a position to trace out whether his son is appearing in this case, as the name is not mentioned in the records," Mr. Ratna Singh says.

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