KK Venugopal appointed as Attorney General of India

July 1, 2017

President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed senior advocate and constitutional expert K K Venugopal (86) as the new Attorney General of India. He will be 15th Attorney General of India.
He succeeds Mukul Rohatgi as the country’s top law officer. Earlier, in the Morarji Desai’ government (1977-79), Venugopal had served as Additional Solicitor General of India

About K K Venugopal

In his 50-year legal career, he had handled many high profile cases such as Mandal case, Ayodhya dispute, Presidential reference regarding appointment of Judges and also case involving judicial appointments. He assisted the Supreme Court in a number of cases and was amicus curiae in the infamous 2G spectrum case. He also had represented senior BJP leader L K Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case. He is the recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.

About Attorney General of India

Attorney General for India is the Indian government’s chief legal advisor, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India.He is appointed by the President of India under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President. He is part of Union Executive.
Qualification
He must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court or an eminent jurist, in the opinion of the President and must be a citizen of India.
Functions
Attorney General is the first law officer of the government of India and acts as top advocate for Union Government. He is responsible for giving advice to President/ Union Government upon such legal matters and to perform such other duties of legal character which are assigned to him by the President.
He has right of audience in all courts within the territory of India. He has also the right to speak and take part in proceedings of both the houses of parliament including joint sittings. But cannot vote in parliament.Further, he can also be made a member of any parliamentary committee but in the committee also, he has no power to vote. He has all the powers and privileges that of a member of parliament.
Private Practice
Attorney General of India is not a full time Government servant. He is an advocate of the government and is allowed to take up private practice, provided the other party is not the state. Further, without permission of the government he cannot defend the accused persons in criminal matters.