Advocate General of Goa Mr. Subodh Kantak has accused Chief Secretary Mr. Sanjay Srivastava of having acted in breach of procedure by directing the Law Secretary Mr. Pramod Kamat to conduct an inquiry against him in the professional misconduct case. This has been revealed in the file notings obtained from the Law department under the Right to Information Act.
The Bombay High Court had on 29th October last year sent to the Chief Secretary of Goa the complaint regarding the professional misconduct by Advocate General Subodh Kantak. The complaint against Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak was that he had in rank conflict of interest appeared for a private contractor in a matter before the Bombay High Court at Goa where the State of Goa was also a party. In Writ petition 365/2010 before the High Court filed by Mr. Govind Nagvenkar where the State of Goa was also a party, Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak had appeared for a private contractor Primeslots Events Private Ltd. The file notings show that Chief Secretary Mr. Sanjay Srivastava had on 30th November last year directed Law Secretary Mr. Pramod Kamat and Special Secretary Home Mr. Rajeev Verma to examine the complaint of professional misconduct against Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak and to submit a report by 2nd December. Law Secretary Pramod Kamat in his note dated 1st December submitted that the report on the complaint against the Advocate General should be exclusively prepared by Special Secretary Home or by any other person deemed fit by the Chief Secretary. Interestingly Law Secretary Pramod Kamat in another note on 7th February 2011 opined that the inquiry against Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak should be conducted by the office of the Chief Minister or by a retired judge of the High Court. The Special Secretary Home Mr. Rajiv Verma however in his noting while firmly disagreeing with the Law Secretary stated that as the matter was pertaining to the professional misconduct by the Advocate General it should be dealt with by the Law Department as it deals with the appointment of Advocate General. The file was later submitted to Chief Minister Digambar Kamat who on 8th February 2011 sought the comments of Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak on the complaint of professional misconduct against him. Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak in his note a month later on 8th March 2011 while making no comments on the contents of the complaint filed against him, however took strong exception to the Chief Secretary directing the Law Secretary to conduct an inquiry against him. The Advocate General in his note stated that the Chief Secretary ought to realize that Advocate General is a constitutional post and that there was no employer - employee relationship between the Government and the Advocate General. Stating that the position of Advocate General is of a legal advisor to the Government and has a cabinet status, Mr. Subodh Kantak in his note further stated that any complaint against him should have been first sent to the Chief Minister and that it was for the Chief Minister to take further steps he deemed fit. Stating that the direction by the Chief Secretary to the Law Secretary to hold an inquiry against him was in breach of procedure, Subodh Kantak has in his note also stated that there was no question of the Chief Secretary or any other Government official holding an enquiry against him. Interestingly the notings reveal that the file pertaining to the complaint against Advocate General Subodh Kantak has for the last nine months been shuttling between the offices of Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Law Secretary and Special Secretary Home. The file is now on Chief Minister’s desk awaiting his decision. This despite Chief Minister Digambar Kamat’s clear directives to the administration that all files should be cleared within a week. >From the file notings it was very evident that there was a planned strategy by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to shield this blatant misdeed of Advocate General Subodh Kantak by keeping the file pending till the term of this government ends. Aires Rodrigues T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat Ribandar - Goa - 403006 Mobile: 9822684372
