Tuesday, September 6 2005 13:55 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre today (Sept 6, 2005) faced a major embarrassment in the Supreme Court when the Attorney General and the Additional Solicitor General took divergent stands on the scope and ambit of the immunity from court proceedings enjoyed by the Governor under Article 361 of the Constitution.

A five-judge Constitution Bench implored both of them to take a common stand, saying it was impermissible for Attorney General Milon Banerjee and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to take different stands.

"This cannot be permitted that one stand is taken by the AG and another by the ASG," the Bench headed by Justice Y K Sabharwal said.

When the Attorney General said that he was not appearing for the Union of India but was appearing in his capacity as the AG, the court said, "You are the first law officer of the Government and both of you have to speak in one voice."

The AG was of the opinion that the court could issue notice to the Governor when personal malafides were alleged against him but not in case where legal malafides were alleged against him.

The ASG was of the opinion that under no circumstances, the court could issue notice to the Governor.