Meghalaya Advocate General Amit Kumar on Thursday welcomed the State government’s decision to take two weeks to introspect into the controversy involving the legal fraternity, saying the period should be used to establish facts and ensure that “the truth should come out”.
Rejecting allegations that he had sought to undermine or favour lawyers from outside the State, Amit Kumar stressed that the State government’s legal panel comprises 39 lawyers, all of them local and from Meghalaya, while maintaining that the dispute had been wrongly projected as a confrontation between the Bar and the Advocate General.
Talking to Mediapersons, the AG said, “I welcome the steps taken by the government to have two weeks to introspect and find out what is wrong, what is right and the truth should come out.”
He said his continuation as Advocate General was the prerogative of the State government and the Council of Ministers, adding that he had already expressed his inability to continue amid the controversy.
Amit Kumar said the controversy stemmed from an incident involving a senior member of the Bar and a woman intern, and maintained that his call for introspection was aimed at strengthening institutional mechanisms.
“This press conference is not against the bar association or against the members of the bar,” He said adding the matter came before the High Court on July 31, when an FIR was registered against those accused of assaulting an advocate, while petitions seeking institutional reforms were also taken up.
The Advocate General said he was subsequently informed that allegations against the particular member of the Bar were not an isolated incident, with records relating to earlier cases brought to his notice. He said he accepted responsibility for the need to strengthen safeguards for members of the Bar, but denied blaming the legal fraternity. “At the same time I said we need to introspect, I did not blame the bar,” the AG said.
Amit Kumar said his remarks were taken out of context and that the controversy had wrongly been portrayed as a confrontation between him and the Bar, “It is not between Bar and Advocate General.”
Reiterating that the State’s legal representation was overwhelmingly local, Amit Kumar rejected allegations that he favoured lawyers from Delhi, pointing to the composition of the government panel. “We have 39 lawyers in the state government panel here, all of them are local and they are from Meghalaya only,” he added.
He said he had established his law firm in Delhi in 2008 and could seek assistance from lawyers outside the State when required, but maintained that the decision on his continuation as Advocate General rested with the State government.
Further, he defended the functioning of his office and engagement of lawyers, stating that he had dealt with around 1,000 government matters between January 1 and August 31, 2026, including three arbitration cases involving claims of approximately ₹1,600 crore collectively.
Addressing a press conference, Kumar said these cases required extensive research, preparation and continuous dedicated support from his team. He said that with the assistance of his team, he had almost succeeded in all three matters and pointed out that fees paid in certain cases formed part of the costs awarded by arbitral tribunals in favour of the State and were recoverable from private parties.
