By IANS,
Chennai : The Tamil Nadu government Friday removed the two lawyers representing it in the Supreme Court following the debacle in a case concerning the controversial Sethusamudram project and appointed a new advocate to take the matter forward.
An official press communiqué said the government had accepted the resignations of lawyers T. Harish Kumar and V.G. Prakasam and appointed Counsel R. Nedumaran to handle “all matters dealt with by them”.
The Supreme Court had pulled up Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu Aug 4 for indeterminately delaying their counters to a contempt notice issued Oct 1, 2007.
The court threatened to issue arrest warrants in the event of a further failure to respond to the notice.
The apex court had initiated suo motu action after the state government organised a shutdown to protest against the judiciary’s “interference in legislative preserves of elected representatives with regard to the Sethusamudram Project”.
Karunanidhi called off his hunger strike after the Supreme Court came out strongly against him and wondered if there was a constitutional breakdown in Tamil Nadu.
A related matter concerning exploration of alternative routes of the Sethusamudram project without decimating a bridge believed to have been built by Hindu god Ram is pending in the Supreme Court.