Cuttack: Advocate general (AG) post vacant for a month

Cuttack: The post of advocate general (AG) has been lying vacant for a month since Ashok Kumar Parija resigned on June 6 following the change in govt.
Govt advocate Jyoti Prakash Pattnaik has been serving as ‘in-charge AG’ for the time being.
The two-judge bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho had on July 3 expressed displeasure that the govt has not appointed a new AG.
“Leaving the post of AG vacant has created a constitutional vacuum,” the bench noted citing Article 177 of the Constitution while hearing a batch of writ petitions that required the presence of the AG for making submissions on the state govt’s behalf.
The bench directed the ‘in-charge AG’ to take instructions from the state govt on the issue and apprise the court when the writ appeals are taken up next on August 5.
Conventionally, when a council of ministers of a state govt resigns, the advocate general too steps down.