Place List Of All Cases Before Supreme Court First Before Attorney General: Union Law Ministry's Circular

The Union Government has issued an office memorandum directing that the list of cases will first be placed before the Attorney General for India for him to select the matters in which he considers that his appearance is necessary.

The memorandum issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs on September 13 further instructed that after the Attorney General, the list of cases shall be placed before the Solicitor General of India, who will mark the matters to himself and to the Additional Solicitor General to appear either alone or with the Attorney General of India.

It was also mentioned in the memorandum that with regard to the High Court of Delhi, High Court of Bombay, High Court of Calcutta, High Court of Madras and High Court of Karnataka, the matters will be allocated by the Incharge, Litigation/Branch Secretariats in consultation with the Additional Solicitor General of India.

It was instructed in the memorandum that, "All the subordinate offices of this Department, i.e., Central Agency Section, Litigation (High Court) Section and all the four Branch Secretariats at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru, are directed to ensure strict compliance of procedure modified as above."

The memorandum issued gains importance as Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi is all set to take the helm on 1st October as the current Attorney General K. K. Venugopal has, in view of his age, expressed his reluctance to continue at the post after September 30th. This will be Rohatgi's second tenure at the post of Attorney General after his tenure of 2014-17.

The memorandum reads as follows :

 "In respect of cases before the Supreme Court, the list of cases on daily basis, will first be placed before the Ld. Attorney General for India for the purpose of his selecting the matters in which he considers his appearance to be necessary. The list of cases will thereafter, be placed before the Ld. Solicitor General of India who will mark the matters to himself, to the Additional Solicitors General of India to appear alone or with Attorney General for India / Solicitor General of India and to the counsel from Group 'A' 'B' / 'C' Panel.

In respect of cases before the High Courts of Delhi, Bombay (PB), Calcutta (PB), Madras (PB) and Karnataka (PB), cases on daily basis will be allocated marked by the Incharge, Litigation / Branch Secretariats in consultation with the Additional Solicitor General of India concerned."