Five years, three governments: The tenure of former Maharashtra Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni

The Maharashtra State Cabinet last week accepted the resignation of Senior Advocate Ashutosh Kumbhakoni as Advocate General for the State of Maharashtra..Kumbhakoni served as Advocate General (AG) for three different governments of the State. As a result, he appeared in a variety of matters, sometimes taking opposing stands in the same case..Here's a look at his tenure as AG and the controversies he was part of as a result of changing governments in the State..Born on July 12, 1959 to a family of lawyers, Kumbhakoni completed his graduation from Solapur and pursued LL.B. from the Indian Law Society (ILS) College in Pune. He enrolled with the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa in 1982 and started practicing before the Bombay High Court in 1992-193. He was appointed as first associate to the then Advocate General for Maharashtra for more than three years from April 1, 2005, during the Congress-NCP government's reign in the State.He was elevated as a judge of the Bombay High Court in 2008. However, after six months, he resigned over issues related to his seniority..Kumbhakoni was first appointed as AG by the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government on June 7, 2017. He retained the post in December 2019 even as the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Indian National Congress formed the government.After Thackeray resigned on June 30, Kumbhakoni also put in his resignation as per procedure. However, the resignation was kept in abeyance till December 31, 2022. It was finally accepted by the State Cabinet on December 13, 2022..Kumbhakoni represented the State government in several key matters. The notable ones include the plea filed by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged malpractices of former State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh; pleas raising grievances over the management of COVID-19 treatment and vaccination in Maharashtra; the suo motu PIL on COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra prisons, and others..His tenure as AG had its fair share of controversies. Two months after his appointment in 2017, Kumbhakoni appeared for the State in cases pertaining to noise pollution. The State had filed an application seeking transfer of all such petitions from a Bench headed by then High Court judge, Justice AS Oka. Kumbhakoni had contended on behalf of the government that Justice Oka harboured a serious bias against State. The application was allowed by the then Chief Justice and the case was transferred to a different Bench.However, it drew a wide-spread criticism from lawyers. Following this, the case was transferred back to the Bench led by Justice Oka, to which a third judge was added, making it a full bench. That Bench accepted an apology made by Kumbhakoni on behalf of the State. It, however, remarked that had it been any other litigant, it would have initiated contempt proceedings, but because it was the State, it was showing magnanimity by closing the matter..In 2019, the High Court upheld the reservation granted to the Maratha community for admission to educational institutions and appointments to posts in public services. This verdict was challenged before the Supreme Court through multiple appeals. On September 9, 2020, the apex court made held that prima facie, Maharashtra has not shown any extraordinary situation for providing reservation to the Maratha community in excess of 50 per cent.The State’s former standing counsel, Nishant Katneshwarkar alleged that Kumbhakoni was responsible for the Supreme Court verdict against Maratha reservation. He claimed the former AG had not argued for the sSate even once in either the High Court or the Supreme Court.Kumbhakoni, however, later claimed that he only respected the decision of the then Devendra Fadnavis-led government to stay out of the case. He revealed that a meeting had been held in Solapur to let VA Thorat appear in the case, as he was a Maratha by caste and Kumbhakoni was not.Kumbhakoni also claimed that after the High Court verdict, Fadnavis had thanked the legal experts, including Kumbhakoni and his office for their efforts..As the AG, Kumbhakoni had also appeared on behalf of the State to defend the action of felling trees in the Aarey Colony for construction of a car shed for the Mumbai Metro Rail Project. This decision, taken by the government led by then CM Fadnavis, triggered widespread protest and petitions before the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.In 2019, after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition led by Uddhav Thackeray as CM took over, 800 acres of the Aarey area was declared as a reserved forest and the State decided to develop the car shed at Kanjurmarg instead.This was challenged by the Central government, which claimed ownership over the said portion on which car shed is to be constructed. The decision of the State to hand over the land to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for carrying out work was also defended by Kumbhakoni. After hearing the parties briefly, the High Court was informed by Kumbhakoni that the order transferring the land will be withdrawn, but only conditionally. In light of this statement, the Court deemed it best to stay the operation of the order till it finally hears all parties involved in the dispute over the plot of land.Meanwhile, in July 2022, soon after the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde took over, the government decided to reverse the MVA's decision and transferred the car shed project back to Aarey colony..After representing three different governments with opposing views, Kumbhakoni said that he would continue with his private practice in the Bombay High Court.