Like all good lawyers, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi is seldom at a loss for words. While arguing in defence of the amendment passed by the Haryana assembly before the Supreme Court in September 2015, he waxed eloquent. “Panchayats”, he said, “are like mini state governments...they ought to take part in economic reforms. How can that be accomplished when officials put thumb impressions and later dispute such impressions or say we don’t know what we signed?”