NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was expected to make a comeback as the Attorney General of India on October 1, on Sunday declined the Centre’s offer of the post. It was unclear why he turned it down. With incumbent Attorney General K K Venugopal’s term ending on September 30, the Centre, earlier this month offered the post to Rohatgi.
Had he accepted the offer, it would have been his second stint as the attorney general. Soon after the Narendra Modi-led Central government came to power in 2014, he was appointed as India’s 14th attorney general. After Rohatgi’s three-year term ended in 2017, Venugopal succeeded him. Venugopal’s first term ended in 2020, after which he was twice given extensions. He had refused to accept further extension, citing “personal reasons”.
While turning down the offer, Rohatgi, said that he was grateful that the Centre offered to appoint him as the country’s top law officer. Rohatgi, a veteran lawyer, has appeared in several high profile cases in the apex court as well as high courts across the country.
Notably, he appeared for the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Supreme Court, which had heard a plea by Zakia Jafri pertaining to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Rohatgi, who is known for his benevolent submissions was appointed as Additional Solicitor General in 1999 and continued in that role till the first UPA government came to power in 2004.