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 Solicitors General of India (Addl. SGIs). The SGI and the Addl. SGIs advise the Government and appear on behalf of the Union of India in terms of the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1972.[1] However, unlike the post of Attorney General for India, which is a Constitutional post under Article 76 of the Constitution of India, the posts of the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General are merely statutory.

Solicitor General of India
भारत के सॉलिसिटर जनरल
Incumbent
Tushar Mehta
since 11 October 2018
AbbreviationSGI
Reports toAttorney General for India
AppointerACC
Term length3 years (per discretion of ACC)
Formation28 January 1950
First holderC. K. Daphtary
DeputyAddl. Solicitors General
This article is part of a series on
Judiciary of India
Law of India
Administration
Ministry of Law and Justice
Department of Legal Affairs
Legislative Department
Department of Justice
Law Commission of India
Civil courts
Supreme Court of India
Chief Justice of India
Judges of the supreme court
High courts of India
Chief justices of high courts
Judges of high courts
District courts of India
Criminal courts
Supreme Court of India
Chief Justice of India
Judges of the supreme court
High courts of India
Chief justices of high courts
Judges of high courts
Sessions courts
Courts of judicial magistrate of first class
Courts of judicial magistrate of second class
Courts of executive magistrates
Courts of divisional commissioners
Courts of district magistrates
Courts of sub-divisional magistrates
Legal profession
Bar Council of India
Attorney General of India
Solicitor General of India
Additional solicitors general
Advocates general
Legal education
Legal education in India
Autonomous law schools in India
List of law schools in India
Others
Alternative dispute resolution
Lok Adalat
Village courts
Constitution of India
Basic structure
Directive principles
Fundamental duties
Fundamental rights
Indian Penal Code
Civil Procedure Code
Criminal Procedure Code
Judicial activism in India
National Judicial Appointments Commission
Supreme Court Collegium

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) recommends the appointment and officially appoints the Solicitor General.[2] The proposal for appointment of Solicitor General, Additional Solicitor General is generally moved at the level of Joint secretary (or Law Secretary) in the Department of Legal Affairs and after obtaining the approval of the Minister of Law & Justice, the proposal goes to the ACC and then to the president.

Currently, the Solicitor General of India is Tushar Mehta.[3]

Duties

Solicitor general works under The attorney general of India Duties of Solicitor General are laid out in Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987:[4]

  • 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 Government of India.
  • to appear, whenever required, in the Supreme Court or in any High Court on behalf of the Government of India in cases (including suits, writ petitions, appeal and other proceedings) in which the Government of India is concerned as a party or is otherwise interested;
  • to represent the Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution; and
  • to discharge such other functions as are conferred on a Law Officer by or under the Constitution or any other Law for the time being in force.

Restrictions of private practice

As law officers represent the Government of India, there are certain restrictions which are put on their private practice. A law officer is not allowed to:

  • hold briefs in any court for any party, except the Government of India or the government of a State or any University, Government School or College, local authority, Public Service Commission, Port Trust, Port Commissioners, Government aided or Government managed hospitals, a Government company, any Corporation owned or controlled by the State, any body or institution in which the Government has a preponderating interest;
  • advice any party against the Government of India or a Public Sector Undertaking, or in cases in which he is likely to be called upon to advise, or appear for, the Government of India or a Public Sector Undertaking;
  • defend an accused person in a criminal prosecution, without the permission of the Government of India; or
  • accept appointment to any office in any company or corporation without the permission of the Government of India;
  • advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organisation or any Public Sector Undertaking unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs.[4]

Fee and allowances payable

Fee and allowances payable to the law officers (including Attorney General of India, Solicitor General of India and the Additional Solicitors General) of the Government of India are as under:[5]

S.No.Nomenclature of the item of workRates of fees payable for appearance and other work
(1)Suits, writ petitions, appeals and references under article 143Rs. 16,000/- per case per day
(2)Special leave petitions and other applicationsRs. 10,000/- per case per day
(3)Settling pleadings (including affidavits)Rs. 5,000/- per pleading
(4)Settling Statement of CaseRs. 6,000/- per case
(5)For giving opinions in statements of cases sent by the Ministry of LawRs. 10,000/- per case
(6)For written submission before the Supreme Court, High Court, and Commissions of Inquiry or Tribunals and the likeRs. 10,000/- per case
(7)Appearance in Courts outside DelhiRs. 40,000/- per day per case

In addition to the above fee payable for cases, a retainer fee is paid to the Solicitor General and the Addl. Solicitors General at the rate of Rs. 40,000, and Rs. 30,000 per month, respectively.

List of incumbent Law Officers

The list of incumbent Law Officers (i.e. AGI, SGI, Addl. SGIs) as of 2 September 2022 are as follows:[6][7]

List of Law Officers
Attorney General for India Appointment Term Length
K. K. Venugopal 1 July 2017 5 years, 114 days
Solicitor General of India Appointment Term Length
Tushar Mehta 11 October 20184 years, 12 days
Additional Solicitors General Appointment Term Length
Vikramjit Banerjee Supreme Court 5 March 20184 years, 232 days
Madhavi Goradia Diwan 18 December 20183 years, 309 days
K.M. Nataraj 14 January 20193 years, 282 days
Sanjay Jain 17 January 2019 3 years, 279 days
Balbir Singh 30 June 2020 2 years, 115 days
Suryaprakash V. Raju 30 June 2020 2 years, 115 days
N. Venkataraman 30 June 2020 2 years, 115 days
Jayant K. Sud 30 June 2020 2 years, 115 days
Aishwarya Bhati 30 June 2020 2 years, 115 days
Vacant N/A N/A
Vacant N/A N/A
Rajdeepak Rastogi Rajasthan HC 28 July 20148 years, 87 days
Satya Pal Jain Punjab & Haryana HC 8 April 20157 years, 198 days
Anil Chandrabali Singh Bombay HC 9 July 20175 years, 106 days
Shashi Prakash Singh Allahabad HC 9 February 20184 years, 256 days
Nargund N. B. Karnataka HC 18 December 20192 years, 309 days
T. Surya Karan Reddy Southern Zone 18 December 20192 years, 309 days
R. Sankaranaryanan Madras HC 30 June 20202 years, 115 days
Asok Kumar Chakrabarti Calcutta HC 9 July 2022106 days
Devang Girish Vyas Gujarat HC 30 June 2020 2 years, 115 days
Chetan Sharma Delhi HC 1 July 2020 2 years, 114 days
Dr. Krishna Nandan Singh Patna HC 1 July 2020 2 years, 114 days

List of Solicitors General of India

The Solicitors General of India since independence are listed below:[7]

List of Solicitors General of India
# Solicitor General Term Start Term EndTerm LengthPrime Ministers[8]
1 Chander Kishan Daphtary 28 January 1950 1 March 196313 years, 32 daysJawaharlal Nehru
2 H.N. Sanyal 2 March 1963 9 September 19641 year, 191 daysJawaharlal Nehru
Lal Bahadur Shastri
3 S.V. Gupta 10 September 1964 16 September 19673 years, 6 daysLal Bahadur Shastri
Indira Gandhi
4 Niren De 30 September 1967 30 October 19681 year, 30 daysIndira Gandhi
5 Jagadish Swarup 5 June 1969 4 June 19722 years, 365 daysIndira Gandhi
6 Lal Narayan Sinha 17 July 1972 5 April 19774 years, 262 daysIndira Gandhi
7 S.N. Kacker 5 April 1977 2 August 19792 years, 119 daysMorarji Desai
8 Soli Jehangir Sorabjee 9 August 1979 25 January 1980169 daysCharan Singh
9 Keshava Parasaran 6 March 1980 8 August 19833 years, 155 daysIndira Gandhi
10 Milon Kumar Banerji 4 April 1986 3 April 19892 years, 364 daysRajiv Gandhi
11 Ashok Desai 18 December 1989 2 December 1990349 daysV. P. Singh
12 A.D. Giri 4 December 1990 1 December 1991362 daysChandra Shekhar
13 Dipankar P. Gupta 9 April 1992 10 April 19975 years, 1 dayP. V. Narasimha Rao
H. D. Deve Gowda
14 Tehmtan R. Andhyarujina 11 April 1997 4 April 1998358 daysInder Kumar Gujral
15 Nitte Santhosh Hegde 10 April 1998 7 January 1999272 daysAtal Bihari Vajpayee
16 Harish Salve 1 November 1999 3 November 20023 years, 2 daysAtal Bihari Vajpayee
17 Kirit Raval 4 November 2002 19 April 20041 year, 167 daysAtal Bihari Vajpayee
18 Goolam Essaji Vahanvati 20 June 2004 7 June 20094 years, 352 daysManmohan Singh
19 Gopal Subramaniam 15 June 2009 14 July 20112 years, 29 daysManmohan Singh
20 Rohinton Fali Nariman 23 July 2011 4 February 20131 year, 196 daysManmohan Singh
21 Mohan Parasaran 15 February 2013 26 May 20141 year, 100 daysManmohan Singh
22 Ranjit Kumar 7 June 2014 20 October 20173 years, 135 daysNarendra Modi
23 Tushar Mehta 11 October 2018 Incumbent4 years, 12 daysNarendra Modi

Notes
1.^ Later appointed as the Attorney-General for India.
2.^ Later appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India.

See also
  • Advocate general (India)

References
  1. "Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987" (PDF).
  2. "Extra Ordinary Gazette Notification for appointment" (PDF).
  3. "Tushar Mehta is new SG". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 11 October 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 3 November 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. "Law Officers (Condites, 1987" (PDF). Gazette of India. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  5. "Fee and allowances payable to law officers" (PDF). Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  6. "List of Law Officers (As on 02.09.2022)". Ministry of Law and Justice.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "Solicitor general". Vakilno1.com. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  8. "Former Prime Ministers". PM India. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.