Haryana government to replace advocate KTS Tulsi in Maruti violence case

CHANDIGARH: The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana will depute a new lawyer in place of noted Supreme Court advocate KTS Tulsi to represent itself in the case related to the violence at Maruti's plant in Manesar in 2012, and reexamine his “pending bills“, according to sources within BJP administration.

The erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana had engaged Tulsi for more than Rs 6 crore against the advice of officials. Even as more than 200 law officers were available with the office of the advocate general in the state, the government had appointed Tulsi in July 2012 as special public prosecutor for trial of those accused of violence at Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant.

More than 500 documents accessed by ET reveal that Hooda led government appointed Tulsi without even settling his fees schedule and continued with his services despite advice from the bureaucrats to discontinue the lawyer's services in view of the "heavy expenditure". The Hooda government not only paid Tulsi Rs 5.5 crore without delay but also attempted to clear the lawyer's pending bills, amounting to about Rs 65 lakh, before the assembly elections.