Remained Punjab’s top government lawyer during two terms of Prakash Singh Badal as chief minister of the state from 1997 to 2002 and again from 2007-2012
Following a stroke in 2011, and unable to continue as A-G, he was appointed by Badal as advisor to the state government in the rank of cabinet minister
Ably defended the interests of Punjab and Punjabiyat, especially in the state’s river waters sharing disputes
An outstanding legal luminary, who, as Advocate-General during two terms of Prakash Singh Badal as chief minister of Punjab, stoutly defended the interests of Punjab and Punjabiyat, especially in the state’s river waters sharing disputes, is no longer with us. Hardev Singh Mattewal, who had not been keeping good health ever since he suffered a brain stroke back in 2011 while he was still A-G Punjab, passed away on the night intervening Thursday and Friday.
A huge gathering of family members, friends, well-wishers and members of the legal fraternity gathered to pay their last respects at the LPG Crematorium in Sector 25 Chandigarh, where he was cremated on Friday afternoon. Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association suspended work in the post-lunch session as a mark of respect and to facilitate lawyers’ attendance at the cremation.
Mattewal, who got his last name from the village by the name in Amritsar district and did his schooling from Sainik School Kapurthala, is survived by wife Maninder Mattewal, a former college teacher who later served as member of Punjab Human Rights Commission; daughter Dr Puneet Kaur Sekhon and son Pavit Singh Mattewal, both lawyers.
In a video obituary posted on his YouTube channel KBS Today, former senior bureaucrat KBS Sidhu, who remained closely associated with Mattewal while he was additional deputy commissioner (development), later deputy commissioner of Amritsar, and still later when he was moved to Chandigarh, described the former A-G as a sharp legal brain who was politically savvy too.
In his opinion Hardev Singh Mattewal was the only Advocate General Punjab has had who stoutly defended the interests of Punjab and Punjabiyat. The legal luminary’s contribution in defending the legitimate rights and interests of Punjab in its river waters sharing disputes was stellar.
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He remembered Mattewal remained the Punjab A-G during two terms of Prakash Singh Badal as chief minister of the state from 1997 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2012. Though, following his stroke and consequent poor health Mattewal resigned as A-G in 2011. However, so attached was Badal to him that the chief minister retained Mattewal in the government and appointed him as advisor in the rank of cabinet minister.
According to KBS Sidhu, Mattewal was also closely associated with Dera Beas, in the extended family of whose head his daughter Dr Puneet Kaur later got married.
Sidhu further recollected that earlier, as senior advocate practicing in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Mattewal was instrumental in getting approved a judicial complex for the historical town of Baba Bakala from the high court in the early 1990s and it was got inaugurated by the then Chief Justice of the High Court, Justice SP Kurdukar.
The small town is closely associated with the ninth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Tegh Bahadur. The guru is said to have meditated there for long years and a gurdwara now stands commemorating the site. The judicial complex came right next to the gurdwara, Sidhu, who was then Amritsar deputy commissioner, said.
