Attorney General of India

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The Attorney General of India is the Indian government's chief legal advisor, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. The Attorney General is usually a highly-respected Senior Advocate, and is appointed by the ruling government. The person to occupy this position must be eligible for becoming a judge in the Supreme Court of India.

The current Attorney General is Milon Banerjee, who was appointed by the Congress-led government after the 2004 General Elections. His tenure has been extended till 2009. Apart from the present Attorney General, the following have served as Attorney Generals since 1950: M.C.Setalvad, C.K.Daphtary, Niren De, S.V.Gupte, L.N.Sinha, K.Parasaran, Soli Sorabjee, G.Ramaswamy and Ashok Desai.

The Office of the Attorney General was created by the Constitution of India, and Attorneys General have the right to participate in the proceedings of the Parliament, though not to vote. Unlike the Attorney General of the United States, the Attorney General of India does not have any executive authority, and is not a political appointee; those functions are performed by the Law Minister of India. The Attorney General is assisted by the Solicitor General of India and several Additional Solicitors General.

The Attorney General of India, like an Advocate General of a State is not supposed to be a political appointee, in spirit, but this is not the case in practice. Every time a party comes to power in the general elections, in India, all the law officers resign, and law officers loyal to the new party are appointed. There are no qualifications, regarding merit of a lawyer to be appointed as the Attorney general for India. He should just be qualified to be a Judge of the Supreme Court.