Congress asks Attorney General to resign

Thiruvananthapuram, March 19 (IANS) Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran on Sunday asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to resign for allegedly acting at the "behest of a few bar hotel owners" in Kerala.

In December, the Supreme Court banned the sale of liquor within 500 meters of national and state highways across the country.

But Rohatgi advised the Kerala government that retail outlets for sale of liquor alone need to be removed and that bar hotels and beer-wine parlours along the national and state highways can remain.

"There is every reason to believe that the said advice was given at the behest of a few bar hotel owners in the state," Sudheeran said in a letter to Rohatgi.

"As your good self is well aware, even while holding the esteemed office of the Attorney General of India, your good self has appeared for a bar hotel owner in a case challenging the erstwhile Kerala government's liquor policy to reduce the availability of liquor in the state," he said.

"You have again advised the state government with respect to a judgment, with an instruction which has the effect of flouting the very purpose of the judgment.

"There is every reason to believe that you have given such advice ... only to help a few bar hotel owners in the state," Sudheeran said.

The Congress leader urged the Attorney General to "give up the constitutional seat you now occupy".

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