Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 1
A day after senior advocate APS Deol denied reports of his resignation after claiming “there was nothing of this sort”, his resignation letter dated November 1 surfaced on Tuesday.
The top law officer of the State, who stated ‘neither is there any resignation, nor any talk about it’, in his letter addressed to Chief Minister the same day said: “On personal reasons, I hereby tendered (tender) my resignation from the post of Advocate-General, Punjab, today, i.e. November 1, 2021”. Deol could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
‘Nothing of this sort’, says APS Deol on reports of his resignation as Punjab AG
Sources in Deol’s office had claimed on Monday morning that the senior advocate had handed over his resignation to the Chief Minister. Deol, however, refused to attend to the phone calls amidst reports of his resignation. The same evening Deol claimed: “The speculation (on resignation) keeps going on. Sometimes some pressures are built, but there is nothing of the sort”.
Deol’s resignation letter came after a month after his appointment and two not-so-favorable developments for the Punjab government before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Defending the appointment of senior advocate RS Bains as special public prosecutor for the politically sensitive sacrilege matters, the State of Punjab had told the High Court that “only regular public prosecutor will appear before the trial Court till the next date of hearing”.
In another matter involving Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Advocate-General stated: “For the time being, permission be granted to the SIT to associate the petitioner (Ram Rahim) in the investigation of FIR No.63 dated June 2, 2015, Police Station Bajakhana, by visiting Sunariya Jail, Rohtak, where the petitioner is confined”. The dera chief had moved the court after a Faridkot Court issued his production warrants in a sacrilege related matter.
Deol was appointed after the post fell vacant following Atul Nanda’s resignation soon after Capt Amarinder Singh stepped down as the Chief Minister. His appointment had generated debate since the beginning as he was, at one point of time, the counsel for former top-cop Sumedh Singh Saini and IG Paramraj Singh Umaranangal, both accused in the Behbal Kalan police firing case.
The appointment had come as a surprise as incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing in Faridkot district’s Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015 had always been considered politically sensitive. It had also led to a legal debate on the issue of conflict of interest primarily on the ground that Deol, being Saini and Umaranangal’s counsel, would neither be able to appear nor advise the State in their cases and related matters. In an attempt to settle the storm, senior advocate RS Bains was appointed special public prosecutor.
Despite his denial, APS Deol’s resignation letter surfaces
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