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 Union of India and appear on its behalf in terms of the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987.
Unlike the post of Attorney General for India, which is a Constitutional post under Article 76 of the Indian Constitution, the posts of the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitor General are neither Constitutional nor statutory. The conditions of service of Law Officers are defined by The Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987, made under the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 of the Indian Constitution.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) recommends the appointment and officially appoints the Solicitor General. 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 who has been serving on this post since 10 October 2018.
Duties 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: 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 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.
Fee and allowances payable 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:
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 The list of incumbent Law Officers (i.e. AGI, SGI, Addl. SGIs) as of 10 September 2024 are as follows:
List of Law OfficersAttorney General of IndiaAppointmentTerm lengthR. Venkataramani1 October 2022Solicitor General of IndiaAppointmentTerm length Tushar Mehta 10 October 2018 Additional Solicitor General of IndiaAppointment Term length Vikramjit Banerjee Supreme Court5 March 2018 K.M. Nataraj 14 January 2019 Suryaprakash V. Raju30 June 2020N. Venkataraman30 June 2020Aishwarya Bhati30 June 2020S. Dwarkanath 10 September 2024Archana Pathak Dave 10 September 2024Satya Darshi Sanjay10 September 2024Brijender Chahar10 September 2024Rajkumar Bhaskar Thakare10 September 2024Raghavendra P Shankar 10 September 2024 Rajdeepak Rastogi Rajasthan HC28 July 2014 Satya Pal JainPunjab & Haryana HC8 April 2015 Anil Chandrabali Singh Bombay HC9 July 2017 Shashi Prakash Singh Allahabad HC9 February 2018 K. Arvind KamathKarnataka HC17 October 2023 T. Surya Karan Reddy Southern Zone18 December 2019 R. SankaranaryananMadras HC30 June 2020 Ashok Kumar Chakraborty Calcutta HC9 July 2022 Devang Girish VyasGujarat HC30 June 2020Chetan SharmaDelhi HC1 July 2020Dr. Krishna Nandan SinghPatna HC1 July 2020
List of Solicitors General of India The Solicitors General of India since independence are listed below:
List of Solicitors General of India# Solicitor General Term startTerm end Term length Prime Ministers1 Chander Kishan Daphtary 28 January 19501 March 1963 Jawaharlal Nehru2 H. N. Sanyal 2 March 1963 9 September 1964 Jawaharlal NehruLal Bahadur Shastri3 S. V. Gupta 10 September 196416 September 1967 Lal Bahadur ShastriIndira Gandhi4 Niren De 30 September 196730 October 1968 Indira Gandhi5 Jagadish Swarup 5 June 19694 June 1972 Indira Gandhi6 Lal Narayan Sinha 17 July 19725 April 1977 Indira Gandhi7 S. N. Kacker 5 April 19772 August 1979 Morarji Desai8 Soli Jehangir Sorabjee 9 August 197925 January 1980 Charan Singh9 Keshava Parasaran 6 March 19808 August 1983 Indira Gandhi10 Milon Kumar Banerji 4 April 19863 April 1989 Rajiv Gandhi11 Ashok Desai 18 December 19892 December 1990 V. P. Singh12 A. D. Giri 4 December 19901 December 1991 Chandra Shekhar13 Dipankar P. Gupta 9 April 199210 April 1997 P. V. Narasimha RaoH. D. Deve Gowda14 Tehmtan R. Andhyarujina 11 April 19974 April 1998 Inder Kumar Gujral15 Nitte Santhosh Hegde 10 April 19987 January 1999 Atal Bihari Vajpayee16 Harish Salve 1 November 19993 November 2002 Atal Bihari Vajpayee17 Kirit Raval 4 November 200219 April 2004 Atal Bihari Vajpayee18 Goolam Essaji Vahanvati 20 June 20047 June 2009 Manmohan Singh19 Gopal Subramaniam 15 June 200914 July 2011 Manmohan Singh20 Rohinton Fali Nariman 23 July 20114 February 2013 Manmohan Singh21 Mohan Parasaran 15 February 201326 May 2014 Manmohan Singh22 Ranjit Kumar 7 June 201420 October 2017 Narendra Modi23 Tushar Mehta 10 October 2018Incumbent Narendra Modi
Notes
1.Later appointed as the Attorney-General for India. 2.Later appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India.
See also Attorney General of India Additional Solicitor General of India Advocate general (India) Mohan Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India (2009-2014)
References
External links Official website of Supreme Court of India List of law officers of India Law Officers of India