Kerala’s Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is facing intense criticism from his own party, the CPI(M), and legal circles of the State for his refusal — or as some call it, inability — to explain the exact role of his legal advisor MK Damodaran who, despite being in such a key position, has been arguing cases in the court as counsel for private clients opposing the Government’s interests.
Pinarayi had a few days ago even gone to the extent of justifying Damodaran’s appearances in the court to argue for clients who were opposing Government interests. “He is not taking any payment for working as legal advisor. Therefore, nothing prevents him from taking up private cases. It is up to him to decide what case he should take up and what he should not.”
Since becoming the CM’s legal advisor, Damodaran, one of the top-ranking lawyers in the State and a former Advocate General, has appeared in the High Court three times for “lottery
king” Santiago Martin who, according to former Marxist chief minister VS Achuthanandan, had plundered thousands of crores of rupees from Kerala through illegal lottery business.
The CPI(M) had tried to justify Damodaran’s role in that particular case by saying that it had nothing to do with the State Government but Martin’s case was against the Centre. However, no clear explanation had come from any quarters after he appeared in the High Court the other day to argue against the Government in a case related to stone quarries.
Not all allies of the CPI(M) in the ruling lDF it leads are happy with Damodaran’s conduct and how Pinarayi is defending him but they are keeping silent mainly because they think it is not proper to create an impression that discord has cropped up within the coalition at such an early stage of the tenure of the Government which had taken charge on May 25, sources say.
Similarly, dissatisfaction is said to be brewing within the CPI(M) against how “casually” Pinarayi is taking the issue. According to party insiders, several members of the CPI(M)’s State committee want the issue to be discussed in the committee but they are not certain whether the move would succeed because of the huge support Pinarayi enjoys in it.
A senior lawyer of the Kerala High Court said that the Chief Minister should explain the mission of the person occupying the chair of his legal advisor when there was already a person in a constitutional position, the Advocate General, to advise the Government on legal matters. “This is the first time a legal advisor has been appointed for a CM in Kerala,” he pointed out.
“I won’t be surprised if somebody approaches the court pointing out that the legal advisor to the Chief Minister has been appointed in violation of constitutional precedents,” he said, adding that many lawyers were unhappy about what was happening in the case of Damodaran but they were not saying it openly because of their friendship with and respect for him as a senior professional.
According to a retired official of the State law Department, the biggest problem arising out of the situation is about whose advice the Chief Minister and the Government would take in crucial cases. “When there are the Advocate General and the Director General of Prosecution to provide advice, will the Government be going by the advices of the legal AdvisorIJ” he asked.
legal experts say that the Chief Minister has not said that the legal advisor will be the Government’s counsel in the court. As far as legal affairs connected to the Cabinet are concerned, the real authority is the Advocate General and it is the AG who should inform the Judiciary of the Government’s policy matters, they say.
What Pinarayi’s critics in his own party and the legal circles want to know from him is whether he would be taking the advice of the Advocate General or his advisor Damodaran in legal matters related to him as Chief Minister and his office. “But he has not shown the readiness to give any explanation,” a senior CPI(M) leader complained.