Senior advocate R Venkataramani was appointed as the Attorney General of India on Wednesday for a term of three years, according to a notification.
He will succeed K K Venugopal, whose term will end on September 30.
“The President is pleased to appoint R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate as Attorney General for India for a period of three years from the date he enters upon his office,” read the notification.
He would most likely join the constitutional office on October 1, a day after Venugopal demits office.
Venugopal, 91, was appointed to the post in July 2017. He was reappointed as the top law officer of the country for three months on June 29.
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He is perhaps the oldest person to hold the office of AG. Venugopal had expressed his unwillingness to continue in the constitutional post due to his advanced age.
Who is R Venkataramani?
Senior advocate R Venkataramani has an experience of 42 years as a senior Supreme Court lawyer. In 1972, he enrolled as a member of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and in 1982 he started practising independently in the Supreme Court.
In 1997 he was appointed as a senior advocate by the apex court and in 2010, appointed as a Member of the Law Commission.
His legal practice has panned across laws of indirect taxes, civil matters, human rights, consumer law, criminal law, constitutional law etc.
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He was further involved by the International Court of Justice with its activities in the Afro-Asian region, particularly pertaining to International Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Mukul Rohatgi refuses to be the Attorney General
Earlier, Senior Advocate General Mukul Rohatgi refused to be the next Attorney General of India after giving it a 'second thought'. Rohatgi cited "no specific reason" for refusing his offer to succeed incumbent KK Venugopal.
Prior to Venugopal, Rohatgi served as the 14th A-G from 2014 to 2017. He resigned in June 2017 and was succeeded by Venugopal. Venugopal was appointed as the AG for a term of three years, and he was given a one-year extension each in 2020 and 2021.
Who is the Attorney General of India?
The A-G is the first law officer of the Government of India and the position of the A-G is placed on a special footing. The A-G is appointed by the President of India and has the right to audience across all courts in a country.
He is the highest law officer in the country and is qualified to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court. That means, he should be a judge of some high court for five years or an advocate of some high court for ten years.
Article 76(2) of the Constitution says “it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the President”.
