Attorney General of India K.K. Venugopal has written a letter to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court for an adjournment in the Maharashtra State Board of Wakf's case till he recovers from the effects of COVID-19.
In his letter, he recounts the "startling" series of events to remove him and his team of lawyers from representing the state-run body.
“Looking at the entirety of what has emerged, it seems that whoever is behind the events that have transpired, whether it is the beneficiaries of the transfer or anyone else, is bent upon ensuring that the Attorney General does not argue this case,” Mr. Venugopal wrote to the Secretary General in a letter on August 8.
In an earlier letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, he had narrated how he is being "targeted" through a "serious, uncalled for and unwarranted attempt" to remove him as the lawyer for the Board.
Mr. Venugopal had said the move to remove him in such a manner would even call for contempt action.
The Board, a statutory body, superintends Wakf property running into acres and worth crores in the State. Mr. Venugopal was representing the Board in a batch of petitions on the seminal question whether every charitable trust established by a person practising Islam was necessarily a Wakf.
Wakf is the property given in the name of God for religious and charitable purposes.
Taking a serious note of the Board's "casual" treatment of the country's top law officer and constitutional authority, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana had said "this is not the way to behave to the Attorney General… This is improper".
