Ranjit Kumar Appointed as the New Solicitor General of India

Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar yesterday assumed charge as the Solicitor General of India. The Law Ministry had issued notifications appointing Ranjit Kumar as Solicitor General and Senior Advocates Maninder Singh, Tushar Mehta, L Nageshwar Rao, P S Patwalia, Neeraj Kishen Kaul and P S Narasimha as Additional Solicitor General on 7^th of June.

Here are some interesting facts about the Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar.

1. Ranjit Kumar is considered to be an expert on Constitutional Laws.

2. He had been a Counsel for the Government of Gujarat for a lont time and acted as amicus curiae in several important cases such as Sohrabuddin Sheikh Encounter case.

3. He also represented the family of a women who was involved in the Snoopgate Controversy in the Supreme Court. He asked the Central Government to restrain from holding an inquiry into the matter.

4. He also represented Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a Disproportionate Assets case in the Bangalore court.

The Solicitor General of India is an important Law officer of this country and is second only to the Attorney General. He assists the Attorney General and is himself assisted by several Additional Solicitor General. Unlike the post of Attorney General, which is a Constitutional Post under Article 76 of the Constitution of India, the post of Solicitor General is merely statutory in character.

More Law Officers are likely to be appointed in the coming days. It is a Convention that the top Law Officers step down with the change in Government. The previous Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran and Attorney General Goolam E. Vahanvati resigned last week from their posts with other ASGs. There were 12 Additional Solicitor General in the previous UPA Government.

In the previous Government, Indira Jaising became the first woman to be appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India. But no Female Law Officers have been appointed so far by this Government.

However, the Constitutional Post of Attorney General still lies vacant as Shri Ram Jethamalani accused the prime candidate Mukul Rohatgi of having opposed the Black Money Investigations in the Supreme Court.

In the next post, I will explain the duties and responsibilities of Solicitor General of India and Attorney General of India.

Next: Powers, Duties and Responsibilities of Solicitor General and Additional Solicitors General