Suspense over the appointment of the new Attorney General for India following Mukul Rohatgi's decision to step down as the top law officer is finally over. Senior advocate KK Venugopal's name has been cleared for appointment, highly placed sources in the government say.
Sources said the proposal to appoint the 86-year-old veteran lawyer as the successor of Rohatgi was discussed before the departure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent visit to the US, Portugal and Netherlands. They added, "Venugopal had a meeting with Modi before his departure for a three-nation tour."
Venugopal, however, refused to confirm the development. Venugopal, also a noted constitutional expert, said, "I will speak only after the notification is issued." The senior advocate, however, reportedly said that the notification is likely to be issued in a day or two.
The Law Ministry had recently referred the file relating to the appointment of Venugopal as the Attorney General to the Prime Minister's Office for a final call. According to the procedure, after the decision is finalised, the President has to sign the Warrant of Appointment of the Attorney General.
A recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan, Venugopal would become a law officer for the second time as he was an Additional Solicitor General in the seventies during the Morarji Desai government.
The veteran lawyer has been associated with several government instrumentalities and lattely, he has also been appearing for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate before the Supreme Court in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Venugopal's association with the BJP regime goes back to the Ayodhya movement when in 1992, he had appeared for the then Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh.
Recently, Venugopal again appeared in the Babri Masjid demolition case representing senior BJP leader LK Advani and others before the apex court which restored the charge of criminal conspiracy against them and ordered the completion of the trial in the case, in two years.
Venugopal also appeared for PJ Thomas when his appointment as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner by the erstwhile UPA government was challenged in the apex court which had set aside the government's decision.
He also appeared for Dandi Swamy Sri Vidyanada Bhartiji and J Jayalalithaa, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in 2008 in the Sethusamudram case, popularly known as Ram Sethu matter, against the construction of the ambitious shipping canal project of the previous UPA government.
Venugopal also represented the Madhya Pradesh Government during the hearing of National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in which he supported the validity of the central law to do away with the collegium system of appointment of judges for the higher judiciary.
