In two years, five Punjab AGs resign — one stayed for just one month

The last senior advocate to helm the post for a considerable amount of time was Atul Nanda. He remained AG for over four years throughout former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s tenure. He had to put in his papers following unceremonious exit of Capt Amarinder, in September 2021, from the post of the CM.

After Capt Amarinder’s removal as CM by the Congress, Charanjit Singh Channi took over the reins of the state. He appointed senior criminal lawyer APS Deol as the AG on September 28, 2021. Deol, however, had to resign just over a month later on November 1, 2021, after the then state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu vehemently opposed his appointment. Sidhu had taken a plea that he was the lawyer of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, an accused in the Behbal Kalan firing case of 2015. Deol had ensured a blanket bail for Saini in the case. The AAP too had led a vociferous campaign againt Deol citing the same reason.

Before his appointment, during Nanda’s tenure as AG, the then cabinet ministers including Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had sought his (Nanda’s) ouster on the plea that he could not defend the government in Behbal Kalan firing case and Saini got bail.

After Deol’s resignation, Channi appointed Deepinder Singh Patwalia as the AG. But after Congress lost last year’s Assembly election, Patwalia resigned from the post on March 18.

The AAP, which formed government with Bhagwant Mann as Chief Minister, on March 19 appointed Anmol Rattan Sidhu to the post. However, just four months later, Sidhu resigned from the post. It was stated that he had resigned in protest as he was not allowed to accommodate his colleagues as law officers in the government.

Sidhu had also courted a controversy after he had not appointed law officers from the Schedule Castes. He had appeared in Behbal Kalan firing and gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s case on behalf of the government. The Mann government then appointed Vinod Ghai as the AG. Ghai resigned on Wednesday citing personal reasons, following which Gurminder Singh was named the new AG.

Ghai’s ouster came just over a month after the AAP dispensation faced embarrassment in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the matter of dissolution of gram panchayats. The AAP government had to take a U-turn in the high court by withdrawing its August 10 notification that dissolved all gram panchayats in the state.

Facing embarrassment, the government had suspended two senior IAS officers — Dhirendra Kumar Tiwari and Gurpreet Singh Khaira — for what it had latter termed as a “technically-flawed” decision. The state government had also not been able to defend itself in the matter of delivery of wheat flour at the doorsteps of beneficiaries when fair price shop owners moved the high court, forcing it to put the scheme on hold last year.

While the functionaries of the government did not want to comment on the issue, AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said, “There is no jinx attached to the AG office. Gurminder Singh is a highly competent lawyer. He will stay on. Ghai resigned citing personal issues. It was his personal decision. Lawyers have a lot of work. Ghai prioritised on his personal work”.