Leaving office of Advocate General vacant completely impermissible: Allahabad High Court

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday expressed its displeasure over the fact that the State government is yet to take a decision on appointment of a new Advocate General (AG) for the State after the incumbent AG Raghvendra Singh submitted his resignation [Ramakant Dixit vs Union of India].A division bench of Justices Devendra Upadhyay and Subash Vidyarthi while noting that the State government is yet to accept the resignation of Singh, said that any vaccum in the office of a constitutional functionary leads to an "unsavoury" situation."We have already noticed above that the office of Advocate General cannot be permitted to be left vacant. Any vacuum in the office of a constitutional functionary may lead to very unsavory situation and that would be completely impermissible not only having regard to the scheme of our constitution, but also bearing in mind various statutory functions which are to be performed by the Advocate General," the Court observed..The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by advocate Ramakant Dixit seeking directives to the state government to appoint a new AG.In view of the importance of the matter, the Court converted the plea to a suo motu case and registered it under the cause title "Suo Motu PIL in re: Appointment of/Vacancy in the office of Advocate General".The Court also appointed advocate Satish Chandra 'Kashish' as Amicus Curiae in the matter.The present AG Raghavendra Singh had resigned from the post but the State hasn't taken any decision on the same. The bench noted that the AG who is appointed in terms of Article 165 of the Constitution of India, discharges not only constitutional obligations but also other statutory functions and duties mandated by various legislations."There is no doubt that as per the scheme of our constitution, any vacancy in the office of Advocate General should not be permitted to remain unfilled without any effort to fill it up. It has been informed that the incumbent Advocate General has tendered his resignation, though the same has not been accepted. Thus, the factual scenario which emerges is that at present office of Advocate General is not vacant," the order dated May 6, stated.The State's Chief Standing Counsel sought two weeks' time to take instruction but in view of the importance of the matter, the Court proceeded to allow a week's time. "We, thus, feel that time as prayed for by the State through the Chief Standing Counsel is more than required. We expect that a decision in this regard shall be taken at the earliest and for the said purpose we grant a week's time. We express our solemn hope and expectation that by the next date of listing, the State shall take all remedial measures to ensure that the office of Advocate General does not remain either vacant or non-functional," the Court said.The matter will be heard again on May 16. .[Read Order]