TTED BY TH! RI iN. iF KERALA BEFORE THE HON’ Hon'ble The Chief Justice, The undersigned, who are Government Law Officers appointed to appear and conduct cases on behalf of the Government of Kerala in the Hon'ble High Court, are constrained to represent before your Lordship being deeply wounded, both personally and professionally, by the uncharitable approach and uncalled for statements made by an Hon'ble Judge of this Court, who has been repeatedly making sweeping adverse remarks both against the Government and the Government Law Officers for no good reason whatsoever. To be precise, we are very much aggrieved by the hostile attitude entertained by His Lordship Justice Alexander Thomas against the State Government, the Chief Minister, the Advocate General and the team of Law Officers appearing in the High Court. As your Lordship and other companion judges would appreciate, despite the inevitable shortcomings in any system, the Government Law Officers appearing in various courts are trying their level best to aid and assist the Hon'ble Judges in disposal of cases by providing necessary and timely instructions. It is only due to the committed follow-up of cases both by the Government Pleaders as also the staff of the Advocate General's Office that instructions are being placed before Court inthe numerous cases where Government is a party. The professional approach of the Advocate General's office and the Government Law Officers is so evident from the very fact that they work even beyond the normal office hours, without which this Hon'ble Court would not have been enabled to assist in the proper disposal of cases where Government is a party. It is only due to the night oil burnt by the Government Pleaders that Government cases are being able to defended and decided before this Hon'ble Court. Be that as it may, we are deeply pained that Hon'ble Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas has been making unmerited, uncharitable and irrelevant observations in open Court, not only without giving an opportunity but also in a background not requiring such observations for the decision of the case before him. As a matter of fact, Hon'ble Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas has been consistently making out of place observations based on his personal philosophies and prejudices. It is the practice of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas to make disparaging remarks and comments which are totally unnecessary and unwarranted in the decision making process of the cases pending before him. His Lordship often goes to the extent of making adverse remarks pointing at the character, competence and integrity of State Law officers as a whole, particularly the Advocate General, without any requirement for the same thereof. Though it has been the consistent practice of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas to make such adverse remarks which are general and sweeping in nature, the same was being silently tolerated by us only asa mark of respect to the worthy traditions of this noble institution and not to give an opportunity to the public to celebrate a dispute between the Bar and the Bench, As a matter of fact, many a Government Pleaders, especially certain lady Government Pleaders attached to the Court of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas had walked out of the Court with tearful eyes due to such indignified comments made by him, due to which they have even refused to be attached to that Court any more. The Government Pleaders attached to the Court of Hon'ble Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas has also been facing much difficulty to handle cases, since His Lordship does not follow the number pattern maintained and followed by every other Court. The practice of random pick and choose from the admission and petition list without following calling of cases serial-wise, has been a cause of serious concern and difficulty to the Government Pleaders. The manner in which Hon'ble Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas conducts Court is not only thoroughly unprofessional but also is in such a manner that it not only demoralizes the Government Pleaders, both individually and professionally, but also tarnishes their image and efficiency. Though the above conduct of His Lordship Mr. Justice Alexander Thomas has been put up on every earlier occasion, the manner in which he expressed himself about the Government, the Chief Minister, the Advocate General and the Government Law Officers has crossed all bounds that he has even passed comments requiring the Advocate General's Office to be closed down. On many an earlier occasion, His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas, who himself was aGovernment Pleader during the LDF ministry, had been criticizing the present batch of Government Pleaders by comparing them with the batch of Government Pleaders who worked along with him. By narrating stories of efficiency of various Government Pleaders who worked along with him, His Lordship has been requiring the present team of Government Pleaders to emulate many a named persons. His Lordship has also been finding out reasons to cast unfounded imputations on the present functioning of the Advocate General's Office even by blaming that it is due to the inefficiency of the Advocate General's Office that a statement filed in the registry of the High Court, copy of which was also received by the opposite side, had not reached the Bench. When it is for the registry of the High Court to transmit papers filed therein to the concerned Bench at the appropriate time, it is un understandable as to why His Lordship has chosen to blame the Advocate General's office for the same. Among other wild comments, the following are the prominent ones made by His Lordship at various points of time during the course of the day yesterday: 1, Here we have 120 Government Pleaders and the majority of them are nominees of Abkari (Liquor) contractors and business tycoons. 2. Even those at the top of the Advocate General's Office are nominees of somebody including Abkaris, 3. One should learn how an Advocate General's Office should function from the State of Tamil Nadu,¢) Whether it is necessary for the decision of the case as an integral part thereof, to animadvert on that conduct, the gesture on the part of His Lordship Justice Alexander Thomas is totally deprecable. The sweeping generalizations made by the His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas is not only against facts, but also violative of all canons of natural justice for the simple reason that such observations were made without even affording an opportunity of being heard to the Government Pleaders as to explain their stand with regard to the concerns expressed by His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas. Observations made by him is without any objective assessment of facts and is based only on personal perceptions. His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas ought not to have entered such findings of general nature, which at the best, can reflect only personal knowledge and not a judicial finding based on legally acceptable materials on record. Personal perceptions of any Judge cannot be a substitute for factual and legal aspects, which alone are required to be looked into while dispensing justice. In any view of the matter, His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas was not justified in imputing the group of Government Pleaders with the allegation of inefficiency, which stigmatizes each and every one of them to the core. We beg to submit that the above narrated uncharitable remarks made by His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas in open Court have been portrayed bythe print and visual media as ‘the opinion’ of the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala, as a whole, which has prejudicially affected the character, efficiency, morale and even the future career of a community of professionals. The seathing criticism made by His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas against the Law Officers of the State has lowered the esteem of the entire Law Officers of the State in the eyes of the general public, let alone the litigant public. The castigating remarks made by His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas have also brought down the morale of the Government Pleaders, which would in turn adversely affect efficient discharge of their duties. When such strictures are passed publically by the highest Court of the State, the community of Government Pleaders would be condemned for ever in the eyes of the Government Officials as well, which will, in turn, have disastrous consequences. ‘The injury caused to the Government Pleaders in the High Court due to the observations made by His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas is beyond words and that the media coverage given to this news item has also virtually stamped all the Government Pleaders as inefficient. This will have a corroding effect not only ‘on the efficiency of the Government Pleaders, but even on their morale. As a matter of fact, during the tenure of the present team of Law Officers, the pendency of cases in which counter affidavits are required to be filed have been brought down to the minimal, closely touching nil, only due to the concerted and dedicated efforts of the undersigned who have been earnestly working in this direction on theinstructions of the Advocate General. The Government Law Officers have also been earnestly co-operating with various Benches of this Hon'ble Court as and when additional Benches are constituted, be it for hearing of old cases or Full Bench matters. The efficiency and dedication of present team of law Officers would be evidenced by the mere fact that when former ministries had chosen to engage lawyers from outside Kerala to argue cases involving important legal issues, the Present Advocate General and his team of law Officers have chosen to do all the task by themselves, which has even given substantial revenue gain to the State. It is even without appreciating all these positive aspects that His Lordship Mr.Justice Alexander Thomas has been passing adverse comments on the functioning of the Advocate General's Office. In the above background, we request your Lordship to intervene in the issue and to take appropriate steps to redress our grievances and to ensure that the goodwill and reputation of the Constitutional office of the Advocate General is not tarnished and that the services of the Government Pleaders and the staff of the Advocate General's office is not underestimated and Put to unnecessary public criticism, Assuring the best of services from the part of each and every Government Pleader in the conduct of Government cases, we expect a favourable action from your Lordship’s end to boost and motivate ourselves, Dated this the 24" day of July, 2015.