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Solicitor General of India

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Solicitor General of India
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. Solicitor Generals

The Solicitor General of India (SGI) is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. The SGI is 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.

The 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

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The Solicitor General works under the Attorney General of India. The duties of the 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

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As law officers representing the Government of India, SGIs are bound by certain restrictions concerning 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

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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 work Rates of fees payable for appearance and other work
(1) Suits, writ petitions, appeals and references under article 143 Rs. 16,000/- per case per day
(2) Special leave petitions and other applications Rs. 10,000/- per case per day
(3) Settling pleadings (including affidavits) Rs. 5,000/- per pleading
(4) Settling Statement of Case Rs. 6,000/- per case
(5) For giving opinions in statements of cases sent by the Ministry of Law Rs. 10,000/- per case
(6) For written submission before the Supreme Court, High Court, and Commissions of Inquiry or Tribunals and the like Rs. 10,000/- per case
(7) Appearance in Courts outside Delhi Rs. 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

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The list of incumbent Law Officers (i.e. AGI, SGI, Addl. SGIs) as of 10 September 2024 are as follows:[6][7]

List of Law Officers
Attorney General for India Appointment Term Length
R. Venkataramani 1 October 2022 2 years, 21 days
Solicitor General of India Appointment Term Length
Tushar Mehta 10 October 2018 6 years, 12 days
Additional Solicitors General Appointment Term Length
Vikramjit Banerjee Supreme Court 5 March 2018 6 years, 231 days
K.M. Nataraj 14 January 2019 5 years, 282 days
Suryaprakash V. Raju 30 June 2020 4 years, 114 days
N. Venkataraman 30 June 2020 4 years, 114 days
Aishwarya Bhati 30 June 2020 4 years, 114 days
S. Dwarkanath 10 September 2024 42 days
Archana Pathak Dave 10 September 2024 42 days
Satya Darshi Sanjay 10 September 2024 42 days
Brijender Chahar 10 September 2024 42 days
Rajkumar Bhaskar Thakare 10 September 2024 42 days
Raghavendra P Shankar 10 September 2024 42 days
Rajdeepak Rastogi Rajasthan HC 28 July 2014 10 years, 86 days
Satya Pal Jain Punjab & Haryana HC 8 April 2015 9 years, 197 days
Anil Chandrabali Singh Bombay HC 9 July 2017 7 years, 105 days
Shashi Prakash Singh Allahabad HC 9 February 2018 6 years, 256 days
K. Arvind Kamath Karnataka HC 17 October 2023 1 year, 5 days
T. Surya Karan Reddy Southern Zone 18 December 2019 4 years, 309 days
R. Sankaranaryanan Madras HC 30 June 2020 4 years, 114 days
Ashok Kumar Chakraborty Calcutta HC 9 July 2022 2 years, 105 days
Devang Girish Vyas Gujarat HC 30 June 2020 4 years, 114 days
Chetan Sharma Delhi HC 1 July 2020 4 years, 113 days
Dr. Krishna Nandan Singh Patna HC 1 July 2020 4 years, 113 days

List of Solicitors General of India

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

List of Solicitors General of India
# Solicitor General Term Start Term End Term Length Prime Ministers[8]
1 Chander Kishan Daphtary [1] 28 January 1950 1 March 1963 13 years, 32 days Jawaharlal Nehru
2 H. N. Sanyal 2 March 1963 9 September 1964 1 year, 191 days Jawaharlal Nehru
Lal Bahadur Shastri
3 S. V. Gupta [2] 10 September 1964 16 September 1967 3 years, 6 days Lal Bahadur Shastri
Indira Gandhi
4 Niren De [3] 30 September 1967 30 October 1968 1 year, 30 days Indira Gandhi
5 Jagadish Swarup 5 June 1969 4 June 1972 2 years, 365 days Indira Gandhi
6 Lal Narayan Sinha 17 July 1972 5 April 1977 4 years, 262 days Indira Gandhi
7 S. N. Kacker 5 April 1977 2 August 1979 2 years, 119 days Morarji Desai
8 Soli Jehangir Sorabjee [4] 9 August 1979 25 January 1980 169 days Charan Singh
9 Keshava Parasaran [5] 6 March 1980 8 August 1983 3 years, 155 days Indira Gandhi
10 Milon Kumar Banerji [6] 4 April 1986 3 April 1989 2 years, 364 days Rajiv Gandhi
11 Ashok Desai [7] 18 December 1989 2 December 1990 349 days V. P. Singh
12 A. D. Giri 4 December 1990 1 December 1991 362 days Chandra Shekhar
13 Dipankar P. Gupta 9 April 1992 10 April 1997 5 years, 1 day P. V. Narasimha Rao
H. D. Deve Gowda
14 Tehmtan R. Andhyarujina 11 April 1997 4 April 1998 358 days Inder Kumar Gujral
15 Nitte Santhosh Hegde [8] 10 April 1998 7 January 1999 272 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee
16 Harish Salve 1 November 1999 3 November 2002 3 years, 2 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee
17 Kirit Raval 4 November 2002 19 April 2004 1 year, 167 days Atal Bihari Vajpayee
18 Goolam Essaji Vahanvati [9] 20 June 2004 7 June 2009 4 years, 352 days Manmohan Singh
19 Gopal Subramaniam 15 June 2009 14 July 2011 2 years, 29 days Manmohan Singh
20 Rohinton Fali Nariman [10] 23 July 2011 4 February 2013 1 year, 196 days Manmohan Singh
21 Mohan Parasaran 15 February 2013 26 May 2014 1 year, 100 days Manmohan Singh
22 Ranjit Kumar 7 June 2014 20 October 2017 3 years, 135 days Narendra Modi
23 Tushar Mehta 10 October 2018 Incumbent 6 years, 12 days Narendra Modi

Notes

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

See also

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References

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  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. 11 October 2018. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  4. ^ a b "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.
  7. ^ a b "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.
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