RAIPUR: A strange and conflicting situation regarding the resignation of the Chhattisgarh state Advocate General (AG) has emerged and apparently taking the shape of a controversy, where the chief minister Bhupesh Baghel claimed that the AG Kanak Tiwari has resigned but the state’s first law officer firmly denies his resignation.
Interestingly, amid the strong rebuttal by Tiwari on his stepping down, the state government has issued the notification on appointing Satish Chandra Verma, who is Additional Advocate General as the new AG of Chhattisgarh in place of Kanak Tiwari.
“The AG has resigned and it has been accepted”, the chief minister said and further confirmed the appointment of new AG, who took over the charge on Saturday.
When contacted Tiwari candidly told the Express that he has never resigned. “If the state government has my resignation letter then the same should be produced. I have not resigned and I am telling the truth. Had I done so it would have been in the proper format addressed either to the Governor or through the state government. But it has not been done so”, he contended.
“What is preventing the government to show me the unwritten, unsent or non-existent resignation letter it is talking about?”, Tiwari asked.
After the return of Congress government under the leadership of Bhupesh Baghel, the Chhattisgarh state appointed Tiwari as the new AG in December last.
The state law minister Mohammed Akbar claimed that Tiwari had expressed his “unwillingness” to accomplish the tasks assigned to him, so in appreciation of his wishes the additional AG Satish Chandra Verma has been appointed in his place.
“Factually I have not expressed my unwillingness too. I have not written anything in this regard to the chief minister either. There are two versions — CM talks about my resignation and the law minister speaks about my unwillingness”, Tiwari retorted.
Former chief minister Raman Singh after cross-verifying from the Governor House has tweeted: “The Congress government’s action has resulted into a situation of constitutional crisis in the state. Both the AG Kanak Tiwari and the Rajbhawan have admitted that he has not resigned. Then the CM Bhupesh Baghel should tell how come he accepted the resignation of the AG”.
On his Facebook wall, Tiwari had written that when he has not tendered any resignation from the post., how could it reach the chief minister then.