The Attorney General for India is the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

's chief legal advisor, and is its chief advocate in the courts. They are appointed by the

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

at the instance of the

Union Cabinet The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

under Article 76(1) of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

and hold office during the pleasure of the President. They must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court. Hence, they must have been a judge of a high court for five years or an advocate of a high court for ten years, or an eminent jurist in the opinion of the President. R. Venkataramani is the incumbent Attorney-General for India. He succeeded to the office as the 16th Attorney-General on 1 October 2022. His predecessor was K. K. Venugopal.

Powers, duties and functions

The attorney general is necessary for advising the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

on legal matters referred to them. They also perform other legal duties assigned to them by the President. The attorney general has the right of audience in all Courts in India as well as the right to participate in the proceedings of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, though not to vote. The attorney general appears on behalf of

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

. Unlike the Attorney General of the United States, the Attorney General of India has no executive authority. Those functions are performed by the Law Minister of India. Also the AG is not a government servant and is not debarred from private legal practice. The attorney general can accept briefs but cannot appear against the Government. They 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 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.

Fee and allowances payable

Fee and allowances payable to the law officers (including Attorney General for India,

Solicitor General of India The Solicitor General of India (SGI) is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. They are the second-highest law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by Additional Solicitor Generals of India (Addl. SGIs ...

and the Additional Solicitors General) of the

are as under: In addition to the above fee payable for cases, a retainer fee is paid to the attorney general for India,

and the Additional Solicitors General at the rate of ₹50,000, ₹40,000 and ₹30,000 per month, respectively. Moreover, the attorney general for India is also paid a sumptuary allowance of Rs. 4,000 per month, except during the period of his leave.

Politicisation of the Attorney General

It has become a tradition that the attorney general resigns when a new government is formed. The attorney general is selected by the Government and acts as its advocate, and hence is not a neutral person. Nevertheless, it is a constitutional authority, and his or her opinions are subject to public scrutiny. On several occasions however, the opinions pursued by the attorney general appear to have been extremely politicised. During some of the AG tenures, it has been felt that the attorney general has gone too far. Niren De during Indira Gandhi replied to a question by Hans Raj Khanna stating that even the right to life can be suspended during emergency. Similarly, in 2005, when the UPA government was planning a possible coalition with Mayawati, Milon K. Banerjee's opinion absolving

Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social cha ...

in the Taj corridor case was ignored by the Supreme Court. In a direct condemnation of the government which asked the CBI to heed attorney general Milon Banerjee's opinion and close the case against

, the Supreme Court told the agency not to go solely on the AG's opinion and place all evidence before it. In 2009, Milon K. Banerjee's opinion absolving Ottavio Quattrocchi in the

Bofors scandal The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, a ...

has also been viewed as "devaluing and eroding the Attorney General's position". During the UPA-II government (2009–2014), the conduct of Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati was criticised in a number of cases. In 2G spectrum case, he became the first attorney general in India's history who had to testify as a

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

in a corruption case in a trial court. In late April 2013, in coal-gate scandal, Vahanvati was accused of misrepresenting facts in the top-most court of India.http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/coal-gate-attorney-general-misrepresented-facts-to-supreme-court-says-letter-bomb-360750 , coal-gate-attorney-general-misrepresented-facts-to-supreme-court-says-letter-bomb NDTV news report. Again in the same case, Vahanvati's role came under scrutiny after allegations of impropriety and coercion emerged from his junior law officer, Harin P. Raval, who resigned from the post of Additional Solicitor General as a result.

List of Attorneys General for India

The attorneys general for India since independence are listed below:Attorney General for Independent India

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attorney General for India Supreme Court of India