Mukul Rohatgi declines Centre’s offer to return as Attorney General

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi has withdrawn his consent to take over as the Attorney General of India. Earlier reports had suggested that he would take over the AG’s role from October 1. Rohatgi was the country’s attorney general from June 2014 to June 2017.

The Centre would now have to look for a new AG or elevate one of its law officers. News agency ANI quoted Rohatgi as saying that there is no particular reason to decline the offer. 

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Current Attorney General KK Venugopal, 91, was re-appointed to the top law officer post for three months on June 29. He had been initially unwilling to continue in the position due to “personal reasons”. Venugopal was appointed as AG in July 2017, succeeding Rohatgi.

The AG usually has a tenure of three years.

High profile cases

Rohatgi, a veteran lawyer, has appeared in several high profile cases nationwide, both in the Supreme Court and in high courts. He appeared for the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the apex court, which had heard a plea by Zakia Jafri pertaining to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Last year, Rohatgi appeared for Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan when he was arrested in the drugs-on-cruise case by the Narcotics Bureau of India.