Articles / Civil Services / Polity

The Attorney General

by Amita Dokhale · Published January 25, 2016 · Updated June 17, 2016

The Attorney General is the Indian government’s chief legal advisor, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.

The 14th and current Attorney General is Mukul Rohatgi. He was appointed by Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India. He has been formally appointed as Attorney General of India with effect from 12 June 2014 and shall have a tenure of 5 years.

Attorney General is appointed by the President of India under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President. He must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

He is advisor to the Government of India in legal matters. He also performs other legal duties assigned to him by the President. He has right to participate in the proceedings of the Parliament, though not to vote and all courts of India.

He appears on behalf of Government of India in all cases (including suits, appeals and other proceedings) in the Supreme Court in which Government of India is concerned. He also represents the Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution.

The Attorney General can accept briefs but cannot appear against the Government. He cannot defend an accused in the criminal proceedings and accept the directorship of a company without the permission of the Government.

The Attorney General is assisted by a Solicitor General and four Additional Solicitor Generals.The Attorney General is to be consulted only in legal matters of real importance and only after the Ministry of Law has been consulted. All references to the Attorney General are made by the Law Ministry.

The first Attorney General was M. C. Setalvad. His tenure was 28 January 1950 to 1 March 1963.

His allowances are equivalent to a law officers of Government of India.

In US Attorney General has executive powers but, the Attorney General of India does not have any executive authority. Those functions are performed by the Law Minister of India.