KOCHI: Former director general of prosecution and senior Congress leader T Asaf Ali resigned from the post of president of the Kerala unit of Indian Lawyers’ Congress (ILC). He was a veteran leader of the ILC.
Asaf Ali’s resignation from the leadership of the lawyers’ wing of the Congress party in Kerala comes in the wake of alleged inaction on the part of K Sudhakaran, president of Congress’ state unit Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), to act against an organization of lawyers working in parallel to the ILC despite a resolution being presented before the KPCC.
While ILC had been handling cases involving Congress workers and lawyers until now, an organization named Kerala Pradesh Congress Legal Aid Committee was recently formed professing the very same aim. In the resolution moved before KPCC, it was demanded that the new organization working in parallel to the ILC be disbanded.
Ali, who had worked as the director general of prosecution (DGP) during the Oommen Chandy-led UDF ministry from 2011 to 2016, had not only defended the ministry in several high-profile cases but had also launched several attacks on the opposition during his term as the DGP, thereby putting the opposition in defence and giving little room for launching an attack on the ruling front.
As the DGP, he had played a key role in handling the prosecution of cases against the accused in the solar scam, in suggesting a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the killing of RMP leader TP Chandrasekharan, in bringing back to life the SNC Lavalin corruption case and the allegations against CPM leader and present chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan a few months before the 2016 assembly polls through a simple plea for early hearing, in highlighting the alleged CPM in-fighting that resulted in torching of P Krishna Pillai Memorial at Alappuzha, in initiating prosecution action in the legislative assembly ruckus case, in prosecuting CPM leader MM Mani following the infamous 1-2-3 speech, in prosecuting alleged land-grabbing by Joice George MP, in prosecuting Shukkoor murder case in which CPM leaders P Jayarajan and TV Rajesh were accused, and in defending solar scam accused Saritha’s plea for a CBI probe against former chief minister Oommen Chandy.
At a time when many lawyers aligned with the opposition parties are not even able to distinguish between bailable and non-bailable offences, as was seen in gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh’s first anticipatory bail plea that raised allegations against the CPM-led LDF government, which was closed by the court at the first hearing itself as the offences were bailable, loss of a seasoned criminal and civil lawyer like Asaf Ali may not bode well for the ILC or the Congress party. Stoic silence of many senior leaders of Congress in the state to the development may hint at a deeper problem within the party.
