Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi. (File photo)Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi on Sunday declined to take up the Attorney General post. Rohatgi’s first tenure as AG was from June 2014 to June 2017.
The government had zeroed in on Rohatgi’s name to succeed current AG KK Venugopal, The Indian Express had reporter earlier. Venugopal, who is on his third extension, had indicated to the government that he did not want to remain in office after September 30 when the term comes to an end, the sources said.
Venugopal, 91, succeeded Rohatgi as the 15th AG for India in July 2017 for three years. When his tenure ended in 2020, Venugopal requested that he be relieved of his post, citing his advancing age. However, the government requested him to continue and kept extending his tenure.
Son of former Delhi High Court Judge Justice Awadh Behari Rohatgi, Mukul Rohatgi was appointed Additional Solicitor General in 1999 when late A B Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. He subsequently represented the Gujarat government in the 2002 riots cases in the Supreme Court and was appointed AG when Narendra Modi government assumed office in 2014.
The senior advocate’s client list also included Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who faced allegations of illegal mining allotments; NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, in a case involving the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI); and Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami following his arrest by Maharashtra Police.