Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday defended his honorary legal adviser M.K. Damodaran, who appeared for the controversial lottery kingpin Santiago Martin in a case in the High Court.
"Damodaran is serving as the legal adviser of the CM without accepting any remuneration. There is no bar on him to take up any brief," he said. The CM was replying to an allegation in this regard raised by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala in the state assembly.
Taking on the CM, Chennithala, during a submission, said the principal legal adviser of CM was appearing on behalf of criminals.
"He is now appearing for Martin who was shunted out of Kerala by the previous UDF government," he said and demanded to know what was the guarantee that the lawyer would not appear for the accused in the sensational Jisha murder case in Perumbavur.
The CM's statement assumes significance as the Congress-led UDF opposition and KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran in particular had launched a scathing attack on him over the issue in the past few days.
Sudheeran had alleged that Damodaran appearing for Martin was a clear indication that the LDF government has a link with the lottery king.
The leader had said it was surprising that LDF was giving more importance to Martin than to the state and the people.
“It also exposed the LDF government's hollowness that it was against corruption,” Sudheeran alleged.
Damodaran recently appeared in the High Court on behalf of Martin in a case relating to attaching his assets.
Meanwhile, Damodaran is expected to appear for quarry owners in the high court on Friday. He will be appearing on a petition demanding cancellation of environmental clearance to quarries. Damodaran had appeared in the case for previous hearings too.
When LDF stormed into power, the government had first considered Damodaran for the post of advocate general. However, he opted out of the post citing personal reasons. The Left front then accorded him the post of legal adviser to the CM. It is for the first time that someone was being appointed in the post of legal adviser to chief minister alone, parallel to the post of advocate general of the state government.
(With agency inputs)
