Irked over behaviour, UP govt sacks Addl A-G Gaurav Bhatia

The UP government on Wednesday evening removed Supreme Court lawyer Gaurav Bhatia from the post of state government’s Additional Advocate General (A-G). Along with Bhatia, the Akhilesh Yadav government has also removed lawyer Reena Singh from her post.

Meanwhile, Bhatia has  denied reports of his removal, saying he had chosen to “resign”. He took to social media to announce that he had resigned from the post of Additional Advocate General of Uttar Pradesh and that his resignation was sent to the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Bhatia tweeted, “I have resigned from the post of Addl. AG UP and resignation was sent to the Hon’ble CM I thank everyone for their support @yadavakhilesh.”

Sources in the UP government indicated that the decision was finalised after the go-ahead came from Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, after which the order was issued. Sources also said that UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was not too happy with the conduct of Bhatia while representing the state’s cases in the Supreme Court. Another reason which had irked the state government was the reported rift between with Bhatia and the SC Bar Association (SCBA)’s president Dushyant Dave.

Dave had in fact resigned from the post on February 15, 2016 year due to differences with secretary of the association Gaurav Bhatia. The rift between Dave and SCBA Secretary Gaurav Bhatia created a flutter in legal circles. 

Meanwhile, Dave withdrew his resignation following a request from the Chief Justice TS Thakur. “Following a very passionate and public appeal by the Chief Justice of India, I have withdrawn my resignation,” Dave had said. 

Sources also said that even when Dave was taking back his resignation on CJI’s request, Bhatia created a huge scene during an executive committee meeting held on February  19, 2016.