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Attorney General of India

02 December 2016

“With his extensive experience in corporate law at the head of Singapore’s largest law firm, Mr Lucien Wong will provide a fresh perspective when he takes over as Attorney-General in January, lawyers said yesterday,” reported The Straits Times about the country’s “first A-G who has not spent time on the Bench or at the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC)”.

02 October 2015

The Supreme Court dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to curtail attorneys general’s ability to act for private parties.

Headline: No issue for AG to act for private parties, says SC

“As long as there is no conflict of interest, there is no issue. We may address him as learned Attorney General even when he is appearing for private parties but that does not mean he is considered as the law officer of the government. No, we cannot intervene in the matter and issue any orders,” said a bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy.

reported The Indian Express.

01 October 2015

Office report

Should it be directed to the Government of India not to give permission to the Attorney General for India to appear for private parties against the state and its instrumentalities? This is the question which a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy would be faced with, when a PIL seeking such a direction would be called for hearing before them.

26 March 2015

The Delhi high court yesterday stayed until April 27 a decision of its single judge to bring the Attorney General of India’s (AGI) office under the RTI Act.

The Times of India reported that “a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw said that the single judge’s findings “require consideration” and it will hear the appeal filed by the Centre against the ruling” that the AG is not a public authority.

11 June 2014

The BJP government's law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad signed off on senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi becoming Attorney General of India yesterday, reported the Times of India and other papers citing ministry sources, which is set to be approved by the president in a day or two.

Although Rohatgi's appointment as AG had been in the offing for weeks now, for a while alongside the name of senior counsel Harish Salve, over the weekend papers reported that senior advocate and former BJP member Ram Jethmalani had written a letter formally objecting to Rohatgi's appointment to the post because of his allegedly weak stance against black money - the subject of a case that Jethmalani is fighting in the Supreme Court.

For more on Rohatgi's court craft, as King of Miscellaneous Days and Storyteller Supreme, read Court Witness' profile of the man from 2012.

09 June 2014

The appointment of Mukul Rohatgi, who was considered a shoo-in to become the next Attorney General of India, appears to have been put on hold following a critical letter by senior counsel and former BJP member Ram Jethmalani to the BJP leadership.

Jethmalani told the Indian Express: “Yes, I have written to the Prime Minister, asking him to not appoint Rohatgi to the post. I have asked Modi to not appoint anybody who is opposed to the move to bring back black money from foreign accounts to any post. It will send a wrong signal since one of the major reasons for the electoral victory of the BJP was the reluctance of the previous government to take effective steps to bring back black money.”

Jethmalani had filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the issue of black money held overseas.

28 May 2014

Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati and Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran have tendered their resignations as is customary on change of government, reported the PTI. The AG’s and the SG’s tenures are conventionally co-terminus with the term of the existing government.

According to speculation senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi are contenders for the post of AG, while Ranjit Kumar is frontrunner for the SG’s post.

Vahanvati – the first Muslim to become the top law officer of the country - was appointed AG in 2009, after being SG for five years during the UPA-I’s rule.

Son of former AG K Parasaran, Parasaran was appointed SG after senior advocate Rohinton Nariman resigned mid-tenure from the post. He was appointed ASG by UPA-I in 2004.

16 May 2014

The Mail Today, said that "sources" have told it that the BJP government's favourites for the job of attorney general would be senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi (of course, the paper had made the same prediction already a month ago, when it also added that Ranjit Kumar was in the running, and that Salve was the top contender). A "top source" also told the DNA two days ago that Salve and Rohatgi were the top contenders.

According to the Mail's report, Kumar and Gujarat advocate general Kamal Trivedi are first picks for the post of solicitor general, if the government resets its legal adviser roster, currently headed by AG Goolam Vahanvati and solicitor general Mohan Parasaran, as is customary.

13 December 2012

The attorney general of India (AG) is not bound to answer Right to Information (RTI) queries, according to the Central Information Commission’s (CIC) latest order.

A full bench of the CIC comprising of chief information commissioner Satyanand Mishra, and information commissioners ML Sharma and Annpurna Dixit ruled in a second appeal filed by three RTI applicants, that the AG is neither a ‘body’ nor an ‘institution of self-government’. He is just an advisor to the government and his advice is not binding on the government.

The AG had submitted before the CIC that his office was different from that of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, or the Election commissioners as thee posts were bodies.[Indian Express/ET]

18 October 2010

Attorney General of India Goolam Vahanvati was conflicted out of providing the government with a legal opinion on the Vedanta-Cairns deal because his son AZB & Partners Mumbai partner Essaji Vahanvati had worked on the deal, according to a report in the Daily Pioneer today.

21 January 2010

Attorney-General-of-India-GE_Vahanvati
Attorney general GE Vahanvati says do litigation first, then join a big firm.

14 January 2010

Attorney-General-of-India-GE_Vahanvati
GE Vahanvati speaks about Fali Nariman and other heroes.