Rajasthan’s Congress Government Sacks Its SC Counsel After She Took Meenakshi Lekhi Case Against Rahul Gandhi

The Congress government in Rajasthan has sacked its standing counsel in the Supreme Court (SC) after her name appeared as advocate-on-record (AOR) for the Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who has filed a contempt petition in the apex court against Congress President Rahul Gandhi accusing him of twisting the SC verdict to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reports Times Of India.

According to the report, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi had mentioned Lekhi’s petition before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on 12 April and sought urgent hearing in the matter. The court’s order was uploaded in the evening showing Ruchi Kohli’s name as the AOR for Lekhi.

The erstwhile Vasundhara Raje government of Rajasthan had appointed Kohli as the standing counsel in the SC. However, despite regime change in December, Kohli continued as the standing counsel.

As per the report, only a small group of lawyers are designated as AOR after clearing a tough examination conducted by the SC. An AOR needs to be present along with the arguing counsel when the court takes up a petition for hearing.

After the Congress government realised that their own counsel became the AOR for BJP MP against the party chief, it terminated Kohli’s assignment as standing counsel.