Bengal Governor officially accepts state Advocate General’s resignation

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has officially accepted the resignation of the State Advocate General S N Mukhopadhyay.

Insiders from Raj Bhavan said on Tuesday that although Mukhopadhyay tendered his resignation through an email from abroad on the evening of November 10, the Governor intended to first speak to him before officially accepting the request.

Accordingly, after returning to India, Mukhopadhyay met the Governor on November 17 and reportedly cited his reasons for stepping down.

Finally, a Raj Bhavan insider said, the Governor officially accepted the resignation on Monday evening.

After resigning, Mukhopadhyay had told a section of the media persons that his resignation was prompted by unnecessary interference by a section within the ruling party.

He also made some loaded remarks on the stand of the state government on the issues of various cases of corruption in the state.

Just two days before Mukhopadhyay's resignation as the advocate general, the public prosecutor of the state for Calcutta High Court Sashwatagopal Mukhopadhyay also tendered his resignation.

Although the state government announced the name of advocate Debasish Roy as the new public prosecutor on the same day of the resignation, uncertainties are still hovering over who would be the new advocate general.

Notably, Mukhopadhyay is the fifth advocate general who resigned before completion of term during the 12 years of Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal since May 2011.

This is in sharp contrast to just three advocate generals, all completing their respective terms, during the previous 34-year Left Front regime from 1977 to 2011.