Mukul Rohatgi does a 'rethink', then turns down Attorney General's post
Rohatgi refused to divulge the true reason when media persons reached out to him over the matter. He merely quipped that he had a rethink on the assignment and decided against taking it up.
FollowSenior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi has had second thoughts about becoming the Attorney General for India and has reportedly declined to accept the offer by the Central government.
Rohatgi refused to divulge the true reason when media persons reached out to him over the matter. He merely quipped that he had a rethink on the assignment and decided against taking it up.
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The government will now have to look for another senior lawyer to be the 16th Attorney General. Rohatgi had been expected to take over from incumbent Attorney General KK Venugopal, whose tenure is ending this month. The Attorney General usually has a three-year tenure.Â
To note, Rohatgi served as the National Democratic Alliance government's Attorney General between June 2014 and June 2017. Venugopal succeeded Rohatgi in July 2017 for three years.Â
The Centre had requested 91-year-old Venugopal to continue when his three-year tenure came to an end. The tenure was extended thrice -- the third time, Venugopal informed the government that he did not want to remain in the office when the term would end on September 30.
That is when the Centre zeroed in on Rohatgi. According to reports, Rohatgi had earlier agreed to accept the position.Â
The senior lawyer has appeared in several high-profile cases in the Supreme Court as well as high courts across India. He was also the counsel for Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in the drugs-on-cruise case. Prior to that, he represented the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court in the 2002 riots cases. He also appeared for the Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team opposing the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, wife of Congress MP Ahsan Jafri who was killed during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
