As reported in June, just a few weeks ago, Mukul Rohatgi, the 14th Attorney General of India had put in his papers and started the process to officially step down from his post.
Now, an AG stepping down before the turn of the political cycle is extremely unusual and usually resign when the govt. that appointed them falls or changes with a new one.
Rohatgi stepping down before any of those things happened, created a lot of chatter as to what the reasons could have been. There have only been 2 exceptions to this norm and one was when Milon K Banerji the 12th AG died in 2009 unexpectedly and the 2nd was the case G Ramaswamy, 8th AG who had to quit due to the 1991 scam accusations.
Let us take a look at some of the reasons that Rohatgi might have quit:
1. Private Practice:
A big reason that is alleged for Rohatgi’s stepping down is his want to get back to private practice. At his age and having been a law officer for a while under the Vajpayee government along with the salary of a law officer, it must have gotten exhaustive.
2. Government Defeat In NJAC:
A few reports also speculate that the defeat of the govt. over the National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) in 2015 was a big reason for Rohatgi’s quitting.
3. Passed Over For Harish Salve:
A speculation is also present that Rohatgi was miffed of being passed over for Harish Salve for the Kulbhushan Jadhav Case in the International Court of Justice battle with Pakistan.
Read More: Can We Please Ask The Right Questions Against The Flawed Surrogacy Bill, 2016?
After Mukul Rohatgi’s term ended on 11th June, the 15th and latest Attorney General of India is KK Venugopal in the Supreme Court of India.
Venugopal who had earlier also been considered for the post of AG was not selected eventually with the post going to Soli Sarabjee, however now he has finally gotten to the AG office.
Venugopal is definitely a good choice for the AG of the country because as per reports, he is one of the best constitutional lawyer in India.
He represented UP’s BJP govt. during the Babri Masjid Case and when the Masjid was eventually demolished even after the govt. had issued a guarantee of safety, Venugopal allegedly told the court that he holds his head in shame.
Not only that but his father M.K. Nambiar also fought one of the most important cases in Indian jurisdiction before Keshavananda Bharati.
Apart from that, Venugopal’s experience in his field is immense and impressive by all counts. He has not only been involved in the Babri Masjid case but has also been a part of the Mandal Commission case, has appeared in some capacity in the 2G case and has been in the forefront of various judicial reforms.
On top of all that, if one sees the price that Venugopal charges which is a sweet 20 lac and above, sort of relays his standing and how good of a lawyer he is since probably no one would pay a bad lawyer such a high amount of money.
Image Credits: Google Images
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