Indian Polity for SSC Exam

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF INDIA

The Attorney General of India is the first law officer of the government of India.

Appointment of Attorney General of India {Article 76(1)}

The Article 76(1) states that the Attorney General of India is appointed by the President. In order to be appointed as the Attorney General a person must be qualified to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court.

Duties of Attorney General of India:

(1) To give advice to the Government of India on legal matters.

(2) To perform other legal duties that are referred or assigned to him by the President.

(3) To discharge functions conferred on him by the Constitution or any other law.

Also

In the performance of his duties the Attorney General of India shall have the right of audience in all the courts in India.

• He is also entitled to take part in the proceedings of the Parliament and the Parliamentary Committees without the right to vote.
• He represents the Union and the States before the courts but is also allowed to take up private practice provided the other party is not the State. Because of this Attorney General of India is not paid salary but a retainer to be determined by the President.
• He gets retainer equivalent to the salary of a Judge of the Supreme Court.
• Appointment of Attorney General of India is a political appointment and therefore, whenever there is a change in the party in power the Attorney General of India resigns from his post to enable the new Government to appoint a nominee of its choice. 
• The Attorney General is assisted by two Solicitors-General and 4 Additional Solicitors-General.

List of Attorneys General for India

Attorney General	Term
M. C. Setalvad (Longest Tenure)	28 January 1950 – 1 March 1963
C.K.Daphtary	2 March 1963 – 30 October 1968
Niren De	1 November 1968 – 31 March 1977
S.V. Gupte	1 April 1977 – 8 August 1979
L.N. Sinha	9 August 1979 – 8 August 1983
K. Parasaran	9 August 1983 – 8 December 1989
Soli Sorabjee (Shortest Tenure)	9 December 1989 – 2 December 1990
G. Ramaswamy	3 December 1990 – 23 November 1992
Milon K. Banerji	21 November 1992 – 8 July 1996
Ashok Desai	9 July 1996 – 6 April 1998
Soli Sorabjee	7 April 1998 – 4 June 2004
Milon K. Banerji	5 June 2004 – 7 June 2009
GoolamEssajiVahanvati	8 June 2009 – 11 June 2014
MukulRohatgi	12 June 2014 – 11 June 2017 (Incumbent)