Kerala’s first Senior Standing Counsel appointment in SC mired in controversy

Follow TNM’s WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.The Kerala cabinet has appointed Advocate M R Ramesh Babu as the state’s first-ever Senior Standing Counsel in the Supreme Court, creating a new position that has triggered controversy over its legal validity.Critics have questioned the appointment, arguing that the post of Senior Standing Counsel does not exist under the current government rules and that no amendments have been made to create it.Ramesh Babu will represent the state in river water dispute cases before the Supreme Court. These cases were previously handled by advocate G. Prakash, who discharged similar responsibilities without being formally designated as Senior Standing Counsel.Ramesh Babu currently serves as counsel for the Reserve Bank of India. He has previously been Kerala’s Standing Counsel in the Supreme Court during 2001–2006 and 2011–2016, and has also represented the Andhra Pradesh High Court before the apex court.The cabinet also appointed four Standing Counsel to represent the Kerala government in the Supreme Court: P.S. Zulfiker Ali, a former KSU Palakkad district vice-president; Aljo K Joseph, Joint Secretary of the AICC Legal Cell; Marsooq Thangal, the first member of the Thangal family and the first IUML leader to be appointed as Standing Counsel for the state government in the Supreme Court; and James P Thomas, who has been practising in the Supreme Court since 2012.This story was written by a student interning with TNM.