West Bengal state advocate general Kishore Datta has resigned. In a letter written to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Datta said that he was resigning purely on personal grounds.
This is the third advocate general of the state resigning mid-tenure.
Though Datta referred to personal reasons behind his resignation, sources in Calcutta High Court said he was upset with the intervention of high profile advocates of the Supreme Court in state matters, at the behest of the government of West Bengal.
Be it post-poll violence or Narada cases, the state government had hired legal luminaries from Delhi and overruled Datta many times.
During the argument on post-poll violence cases in Calcutta High Court, the court sought an affidavit from the state on its inaction. But the affidavit came so late that the court refused to accept it.
In the case of Narada sting operation as well, differences of opinion came up between Datta and state government. Big name lawyers were hired—including Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Sidharth Luthra—to defend the accused ministers.
Datta had to defend the acts of Delhi lawyers in the court, playing second fiddle.
The Raj Bhavan stated: "The governor has accepted the advocate general's resignation."
