Senior advocate R. Venkataramani has been appointed as the new Attorney General (AG) of India by President Droupadi Murmu for three years, the Law Ministry announced on Wednesday. Mr. Venkataramani will succeed K. K. Venugopal, whose term ends on September 30.
The development comes days after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi declined to return as India’s Attorney General from October 1.
With over four decades of practice at the Supreme Court, Mr. Venkataramani has specialized in Constitutional law, the law of indirect taxes, human rights law, and civil and criminal law.
He joined the chambers of late Constitutional expert PP Rao in 1979 and was designated as senior advocate by Supreme Court in 1997. Later, he also served as special senior counsel for various Central government departments in Supreme Court, and High Courts from 2004 to 2010. He also appeared as SC’s counsel in matters about the service conditions of employees of the Court.
The Attorney General is the Indian government’s chief legal advisor and is its principal Advocate before the Supreme Court of India. The appointment is done by the President of India. The Attorney General 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, an advocate of a high court for ten years, or an eminent jurist in the opinion of the President.
