Soumendra Nath Mookherjee’s resignation as Bengal advocate-general, the fifth such resignation since Mamata Banerjee’s ascent to power in 2011, has revived the murmurs about political intervention and factionalism affecting the management of the government’s legal team under Trinamul rule.

Sources close to Mookherjee, a prominent practitioner of corporate law, said he had been “uncomfortable” in the post for a while and had tried quitting several times in recent months, but had to continue because the government was unwilling to let him go.

“Gopalda (as Mookherjee is known in legal circles) was quite uncomfortable with the duties of the advocate-general.... Political mandates and regular intervention from the government often came in the way of his functioning,” a senior Calcutta High Court lawyer said.

The lawyer added that Mookherjee had expressed his discomfiture about certain issues to Nabanna as well as high court judges several times.

“Finally, he sent his resignation letter directly to governor C.V. Ananda Bose from abroad, on November 10, three-and-a-half years before the scheduled end of his five-year term, becoming the fifth advocate-general to resign,” the lawyer said.

A senior Trinamul politician put a brave face on Mookherjee’s resignation and said Nabanna had been “far from thrilled” with his performance as advocate-general.

Mookherjee is the son of barrister and BJP veteran Satyabrata (Julu) Mookherjee — former Krishnanagar MP and one-time state BJP president who had been Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers, and commerce and industry, in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He passed away at the age of 90 in March.

In its 34-year stint at the helm, the Left Front had only three advocates-general: Snehangshu Kanta Acharya, Naranarayan Gooptu, and Bali Ray. After Acharya’s death, barrister Sadhan Gupta was briefly appointed as additional advocate-general.

But the trend changed drastically once Trinamul came to power.

Barrister Anindya Mitra, the first advocate-general appointed in Trinamul-ruled Bengal, resigned within 20 months, in 2013, citing health reasons. His resignation came a day after the high court admonished the state for refusing to follow a human rights panel’s recommendation in a case of alleged police harassment.

Mitra’s successor, Barrister Bimal Chatterjee, resigned as advocate-general in 2014. He too cited health reasons.

As Chatterjee continued to appear in court regularly in private cases after resigning, there were murmurs in the high court corridors that he had quit as advocate-general because of political mandates and interventions from Nabanna.

Barely three years later, barrister Jayanta Mitra resigned as advocate-general. He remains the only one among the five outgoing advocates-general to publicly declare he had had differences of opinion with the ruling establishment. He said he was quitting to “keep (my) spine firm and straight”.

Months after Mamata was sworn in as chief minister for a third consecutive term, in May 2021, came the resignation of the fourth advocate-general, advocate Kishore Datta.

This was not long after the top rungs of the ruling party had internally expressed dissatisfaction with the losses in several cases relating to the BJP’s allegations of post-poll violence, a matter seen as affecting the state government’s credibility.

In her first two terms as chief minister, Mamata had mostly depended on senior advocate and Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee, law minister and ex-advocate Moloy Ghatak and — in an on-again, off-again situation — junior minister and advocate Chandrima Bhattacharya for the management of the state’s legal affairs.

However, Trinamul’s internal political dynamics often cast a shadow on the decision-making process relating to the state’s legal team and legal affairs.

After Jayanta Mitra’s resignation, Mamata had personally intervened to select Datta as advocate-general. But during Datta’s tenure, the state government faced a setback in the high court in a case relating to dearness allowance, besides losing the “post-poll violence” cases.

“There was a certain degree of vexation with Kishoreda, yes. But he was never disliked,” said a senior advocate who is deemed close to Trinamul. “In the light of what followed his departure, his term is actually recalled with considerable fondness by those in authority.”

After Trinamul retained power in 2021, a young lawyer was given the power to form a fresh team of high court lawyers for the state government. This seemed to annoy many pro-Trinamul lawyers, who began distancing themselves from the party.

“Many seniors did not like the bull-in-a-china-shop approach of this youngster and many in his clique. But given his clout, on account of his political access, people have been quietly withdrawing — even realigning politically — instead of making a fuss," a fourth-generation high court advocate, who is in his late 30s, said.

Kalyan was not pleased with the changes. Datta started feeling the discomfort of intervention from the young lawyer in serious legal matters and resigned. The young lawyer then worked to get Mookherjee appointed as the fifth advocate-general since 2011.

The changes in the management of the state’s legal team after 2021 triggered some realignment in the high court. A team of young and promising lawyers — Billwadal Bhattacharyya, Rajdip Majumdar, Kallol Mondal and Srijib Chakrabarty — began holding briefs on behalf of the BJP. The Centre has appointed Bhattacharyya as the deputy solicitor-general for eastern India.

During Mookherjee’s tenure as advocate-general, various alleged scams came under the scanner of the high court. The state government kept losing cases, faced contempt proceedings for failing to carry out a court order, and Mookherjee admitted in court that the legal management was not ready to heed his advice.

“While a group of young high court lawyers has been handling cases with great agility on behalf of the BJP, petty bickering within the ruling dispensation's legal management team and favouritism in appointments have been intensifying the crisis,” said a senior lawyer known as a well-wisher of Trinamul.

“An experienced senior, well-accepted by the younger high court lawyers — and one who has handled such responsibilities in the past — is likely to be announced soon as advocate-general.”