Mukul Rohatgi declines offer of appointment as Attorney General

New Delhi, September 25

Senior Counsel Mukul Rohtagi has declined the government’s offer to be appointed as the Attorney General for India.

“True,” was Rohatgi’s one-word answer to The Tribune’s question if he had turned down the offer of being appointed as the Attorney General.

It was earlier reported that Rohatgi would don the mantle of India’s top law officer for the second time after the term of current incumbent KK Venugopal ends on September 30.

Venugopal – who was initially appointed for a three-year term – has been given extensions; the last one being a three-month extension in June 2022.

The Centre is looking for a new AttorneyGeneralfor India at a time when the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench is all set to hear more than 200 petitions the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and dozens of petitions challenging thevalidity of nullification of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.

A recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan awards, Venugopal was appointed as the 15thAttorneyGeneralin June 2017 afterRohatgidecided to step down for personal reasons after serving the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government for three years.