Bombay HC disallows govt from withdrawing lawyer

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Friday did not allow the state government to withdraw the service of its lawyer Amar Mishra in a 1973 suit against Godrej & Boyce filed by the state government. In an unusual order, Justice G.S. Patel directed that advocate Mr Mishra, who has not been included in the revised list of AGPs recently notified by the state government, will continue as counsel in the case until its final disposal at the trial stage.

The HC was informed on Friday that Mr Mishra would not be appearing in the case any longer, as he is not included in the list AGPs.

Justice Patel said, “Ordinarily, it is not for me to interfere with how any litigant before the court choo-ses to arrange his or its aff-airs, including legal representation. But this is an unusual case with quite extraordinary circumstances.”

Advocate Mishra has been attending to the case, which is related to 3,000 acres of land in Vikhroli, since 2016. Justice Shah expressed displeasure over the government’s appr-oach in the case related to property “enormous by any standard”.