AP Advocate General Mr. Parankusam Venugopal resigns

The Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh Mr. Paramkusam Venugopal has resigned. According to the sources, Venugopal was asked by the State Government to quit the post as the Chief Minister was not happy with his performance.

The State Government’s failure, to effectively present its arguments in various cases before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, has triggered Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to overhaul the state's law officers' team and it is learned that the resignation of AG is a step towards it.

The former AG is very unhappy with the way State has handled the situation . Instead of directly communicating the desire of the Chief Minister directly or through some highly placed executives, the State has availed the services of a Public Prosecutor to communicate the displeasure of the Government .

He is reported to have told the Deccan Chronicle " Mr. Posani Venkateswarlu, visited me at my office today and asked me resign. When I expressed my desire to have a talk with Mr Dammalapati Srinivas, Additional Advocate General, before writing my resignation letter, Mr Venkateswarlu told me that Mr Srinivas was abroad.”

He said that the Public Prosecutor asked him to cite some reasons for his resignation but he refused to cite any reason as there is no reason for resignation except being asked to quit the post.

The legal fraternity is of the opinion that the AP Government has set a wrong precedent by sending a Public Prosecutor to the office of the AG for getting the resignation of an Advocate . The prevailing practice is either the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary or Law Minister making a request to the AG to step down.