AG ruled out, guv looks to Salve, Venugopal for defence

MUMBAI: Governor K Sankaranarayanan and the state government may be represented by Uday Lalit or by K K Venugopal or Harish Salve in the petitions filed by social worker B T Deshmukh, Indiabulls and Shri Mritunjaya Ashram over the powers of the governor under Article 371 (2) of the Constitution.The names were settled on after a meetingbetween the governor and CM Prithviraj Chavan on the state's strategy on thepetitions, clubbed together and to be heard by the Bombay high court. "At ameeting on March 13, it was said that since state advocate general Ravi Kadam'sson is employed with a firm that has filed the petition, there is conflict ofinterest. It was suggested that an independent constitutional lawyer shouldrepresent be chosen," an official said. Deshmukh's petition challenges theallocation of water for Indiabulls's power project near Amravati since thesource was built for enhancing irrigation.Another petitionchallenges the governor's powers, contending he does not have the rights toissue directives on how funds should be utilised once they have beenallocated.