Rohatgi wants to be relieved from AG’s post

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 11

Barely a week after the Narendra Modi government extended the term of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, the high-profile lawyer has written to it that he wants to discontinue as the top law officer to get back to his private practice.

Rohatgi’s three-year term as Attorney General ended on June 6 but the government gave him extension for an indefinite period along with several other law officers on June 3. The top law officer, who is travelling, didn’t take calls but lawyers close to him confirmed the development.

Rohatgi, who worked as the Additional Solicitor General in the Vajpayee government, is the second law officer to opt out of the government’s legal team to get back to private practice. Earlier, Additional Solicitor General Neeraj Kishan Kaul had opted out of the government’s legal team.

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Sources said a decision on Rohatgi’s replacement is yet to be taken. He is known for his assertive arguments.

Last month, Rohatgi had told a Constitution Bench that the practice of triple talaq had to be tested on the touchstone of constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination alone and not on the basis of the Quran.

Son of former Delhi HC judge Justice Awadh Behari Rohatgi, he has represented Gujarat in the Supreme Court in the 2002 riots and fake encounter cases.