'Grave Doubts of Impropriety': TMC Asks Prez to Remove Mehta as SG

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari (left), Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta (right), Image used for representational purposes.

(Image altered by The Quint)

Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers on Monday, 5 July wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking the removal of Tushar Mehta from the post of Solicitor General of India. This comes amid “doubts of impropriety” raised by the party following a visit by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari to the residence of the solicitor general.

This letter comes days after the TMC wrote a similar letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in connection with the same concerns.

THE TMC’S LETTER TO PRESIDENT

The letter, signed by TMC MPs Mahu Moitra and Sukhendu Sekhar Roy dubs the purported meeting between Adhikari and Mehta an “issue that raises grave doubts of impropriety in one of India’s highest legal offices”.

It further reads:

“The Solicitor General of India is the second highest law officer of the country after the Attorney General of India and advises Government of India and its various organs and in crucial legal matters such as Narada and Sarada cases.”

Pointing out that Adhikari is an accused in the Narada case and the Sarada Chit fund scam, the TMC states that “such meeting between an accused in grave offences, with the learned Solicitor General who is advising such investigation agencies by whom the said accused is being investigated, is in direct conflict of interest with the statutory duties of learned Solicitor General of India.”

The TMC also claims that they have reasons to believe that the meeting was organised to influence the outcome of the cases in which Adhikari is an accused, with the help of high offices of the solicitor general. Then, adds:

“In order to avoid any doubt in the mind of the public at large, as to the integrity and neutrality of the office of the Learned Solicitor General of India, we approach you to initiate necessary steps for removal of Sri Tushar Mehta from the post of the Solicitor General of India.”

WHAT HAS TMC DEMANDED?

As per media reports, the TMC MPs have also requested President Kovind to ask Mehta to make the CCTV footage of his residence public, in order to dismiss such speculations.

Meanwhile, ANI quoted TMC Mahua Moitra as telling the press that they have met the president and submitted the memorandum.

Moitra also confirmed that they have sought the immediate resignation of the SG on the grounds of “gross misconduct and impropriety.”

FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/All India Trinamool Congress)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/All India Trinamool Congress)

WHAT HAS THE SG CLAIMED?

The SG has confirmed Adhikari’s visit to his residence, but has refuted claims of a meeting between them.

The SG, in fact, said in a statement that Adhikari’s visit to his residence was “unannounced”.

“Since I was already in a pre-scheduled meeting in my chamber, my staff requested him to sit in the waiting room of my office building and offered him a cup of tea. When my meeting was over and thereafter my PPS informed me about his arrival, I requested my PPS to convey to Adhikari my inability to meet him and apologise as he had to wait.”

Tushar Mehta, as per The Indian Express

WHAT HAD HAPPENED BEFORE?

On Friday, 2 July, the party had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to remove Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta.

In the letter to Modi, MPs of the Trinamool Congress alleged 'conflict of interest' in Mehta's meeting with Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in Bengal, and said he should be 'immediately removed' as the central government's top lawyer.

The letter also claims that the meeting, "curiously took place subsequent to meeting of Suvendu Adhikari with the Home Minister Amit Shah".

Adhikari is an accused in various criminal cases of 'cheating, illegal gratification, and bribery etc' and is being investigated by the CBI, which is represented by the Solicitor General in many of these cases, the letter said.

(With inputs from ANI and The Indian Express.)