Advocate General C J Sawant resigns

NOVEMBER 15: State Advocate General C J Sawant has tendered his resignation paving the way for the incumbent Democratic Front government ...

NOVEMBER 15: State Advocate General C J Sawant has tendered his resignation paving the way for the incumbent Democratic Front government to appoint a person of its own choice. The resignation had been sent to the office of the Governor, Dr P C Alexander on Friday and by now has been conveyed to the state government.

Chandrakant Jairam Sawant was appointed the state8217;s advocate general on April 4, 1995 immediately after the Shiv Sena-BJP government came to power and has to his credit a string of high-profile cases fought on behalf of the state. These include the Sahara case where the Supreme Court recently dismissed a special leave petition filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group BEAG challenging the Bombay High Court8217;s declaration that Sahara India8217;s Amby valley project was environment-friendly.

His other cases included the numerous challenges to the SRD scheme, the challenge to Arun Bhatia8217;s transfer, the Girish Vyas case which cost former chief minister Manohar Joshi his job, the challenge tothe state8217;s police encounters which were alleged to be fake8217; and the recent protection8217; plea of criminals like Arun Gawli and film producer Ramesh Sharma.

In fact, Sawant enjoyed the last case mentioned, the most. Speaking to mediapersons in his chamber in an informal chat today, Sawant said that he enjoyed assisting the court in the interpretation of the fundamental rights under Article 21 where he had argued that criminals cannot demand state protection as a 8220;matter of right.8221;

Asked about his interaction with the erstwhile alliance government, he told Express Newsline that he had not 8220;pursued any policy of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party.8221; Remarking on the legal counsel he gave to the state, Sawant said that the state government had been 8220;most responsive8221; to his advice and gave an example when Maharashtra governor Dr P C Alexander had asked for his advice on a bill that was passed by the House.

This bill had sought to restrict the number of children of local councillors and people8217;srepresentatives to two. The bill had proposed that if a councillor had more than two children, he or she would automatically lose his or her seat. Sawant had advised the governor that the bill might not be able to stand the test of legality as it seeks to overrule the personal laws of several communities. Ultimately, the bill was never assented to by the Governor, and was never pressed by the state government.

Stressing that his achievement was that he had maintained good relations between the executive and the judiciary, Sawant remarked that 8220;no government would be able to function if it did not pay attention to the pressing litigations in the courts.8221;

Story continues below this ad

Sawant claimed that he had prepared his resignation when the new Congress-NCP government was sworn in, but was asked by Deshmukh to carry on till it came to grips with the administration.