Someone bent upon assuring that Attorney General does not argue Maharashtra Wakf case: KK Venugopal writes to Supreme Court

Attorney General (AG) for India KK Venugopal has addressed a letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court seeking an adjournment in a case relating to the Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs till the time he recovers from the after-effects of COVID-19..This comes shortly after the AG addressed a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, expressing shock and displeasure after his Advocate-on-Record (AoR) and instructing counsel in this case were replaced behind his back.“Looking at the entirety of what has emerged, it seems that whoever is behind the events that have transpired, whether it is the beneficiaries of the transfer or anyone else, is bent upon ensuring that the Attorney General does not argue this case,” his latest letter dated August 8 reads..The case involves the question of whether every charitable trust created by a Muslim person becomes Wakf property.The Bombay High Court had quashed a Maharashtra government circular constituting the Wakf Board as well as a notification of properties falling under Wakf. The Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs had moved the Supreme Court in appeal against the same..By way of background, the AG referred to a tweet by Bar & Bench from July 14 reporting that Senior Advocate Harish Salve had mentioned a case dealing with a question tied to the Maharashtra Wakf case, which was then agreed to be heard within the coming week.“By looking at the issue one would find it difficult to find any urgency and what prompted the matter to be taken up for urgent disposal. Nonetheless, in view of the eminence of the senior counsel mentioning the matter as being urgent, the Court directed the matter to be listed for hearing," the AG recorded in his letter..By mutual agreement between Salve and the AG, the matter was adjourned to August 10. However, the same was later mentioned by Salve to be advanced to August 2, in light of urgency.When the Court was informed by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was being led by Venugopal in the matter, of the AG’s illness, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana went on to list the matter on August 2, on which date he said he would see the state of the AG’s health and list the case accordingly..“Thereafter, however, came a series of events which were startling,” read the letter.On August 1, Special Counsel in the matter Javed Shaikh, who was instructing Venugopal, received a letter from the Maharashtra State Board of Wakfs cancelling his appointment in the matter. Shaikh then informed Sankaranarayanan that he could no longer brief him in the matter as a result."This was indeed shocking as no reason was given for this sudden change," the AG noted in the letter.The AG had said that removing counsel representing the parties on the eve of the hearings was a serious, uncalled for, unwarranted attempt to interfere with the administration of justice, and was clearly contempt of court.The letter also clarified that the AoR being changed made no difference on the AG’s right of audience considering Article 76(3) of the Constitution..In this background, the AG noted that despite testing negative, he was suffering from symptoms of long Covid and could not know when he can appear in this case.Therefore, reasoning that the alleged contemnors would have to purge themselves of the contempt before commencing arguments he sought an adjournment.“It is requested that this later maybe placed before Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India, so that the present batch of cases could be adjourned till recover my health and am able to appear in this matter.".When the case was taken up last Tuesday, the AG alerted the bench that he was no longer representing the Wakf Board since he had been removed.While the counsel hastened to apologise, and said that the letter to the AG had been withdrawn, the CJI reprimanded him, stating that this was not the way to address the AG."Is this the way you deal with AG Venugopal? You have forced him to write the letter," CJI Ramana said while adjourning the hearing and agreeing to hear the case along with the AG's letter..[Read Letter]