Good Governance Audit into alleged misuse of legal offices of the State

Thiruvananthapuram:  The Government has decided to conduct a good governance audit into allegations of misuse of legal offices of the State during UDF rule, Minister for Law A. K. Balan told the Assembly on Thursday.

The Minister said that whether the then Advocate General and the then Director General of Prosecution had used the official set up to defend the allegations against ministers and officials of previous government was being examined.

Responding to a question from A. Pradeep Kumar (CPI-M) and others, Mr. Balan added that the audit would be completed by July 2016.

The Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had sought legal advice from senior advocates N. Nageshwara Rao and Mohan Parasaran on the bar case against the then Finance Minister K. M. Mani. The decision in this regard had taken by the Director and he had recommended payment of Rs.  7.70 lakhs as fees to the advocates.

The Law Secretary had opined that the Director could not have sought legal advice from outsiders bypassing the Law Department and the Advocate General. The authorization of Advocate General was required for that. However, the Finance Department had recommended the payment on 4-11-2015 and 20-01-2016. The Cabinet had approved that, after the elections were declared.

Similarly, a demand for Rs. 37.10 lakh had been raised for paying counsels Kapil Sibal and Mohammed Nizamuddin Pasha who were engaged for appearing for the Director in the High Court. They were not counsels in the official panel of lawyers.  This had not been approved and the matter was being examined under good governance audit,   the Minster added.