JOIN USSenior counsel Madhusudhan R Naik has been appointed the Advocate General to represent the State government in the Karnataka High Court.
Naik told Deccan Herald that he had received a phone call from the Law department stating that a notification would be issued shortly confirming his appointment.
A native of Hanehalli in Kumta taluk, Uttara Kannada district, Naik graduated in law in 1976 from Mysore University. He did his postgraduate diploma in Environmental Law from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.
He enrolled himself with the law firm of Justice N Santosh Hegde and was associated with him for nearly 10 years. He has appeared in several cases pertaining to land reforms, service, local board, taxation, excise and education. He was also the standing counsel for KSRTC, Konkan Railways Corporation and ComedK.
He has also appeared for KIADB, BDA, Human Rights Commission, Karnataka Agricultural Price Commission and as a special counsel for the State government in the Transport Department’s service matters. He was appointed the amicus curiae in a case related to protection of elephants.
Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accepted the resignation of Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar and recommended to the Governor the name of senior counsel Madhusudan Naik for appointment to the post of A-G.
Kumar had submitted his resignation letter to Siddaramaiah on October 26. He was apparently dissatisfied over the government appointing two Additional Advocate-Generals (AAG), whose names he had not recommended.
The government had recently appointed Raghavendra Nadagouda as AAG for the Kalaburagi Bench of the Karnataka High Court and Devadat Kamat as AAG for the Supreme Court.
Siddaramaiah, however, had not accepted Kumar’s resignation and had tried to convince him not to step down. On an earlier occasion in March 2014, Kumar had resigned when the government appointed two senior counsels to argue in the Supreme Court cases related to the Cauvery and Krishna river water dispute, without consulting him.
However, Kumar withdrew the resignation after being persuaded by Siddaramaiah.