Centre nod for Rohatgi as AG

One of country’s highest paid lawyers, Rohatgi was additional solicitor general during the previous NDA regime.

The Centre Tuesday cleared the appointment of senior Supreme Court lawyer Mukul Rohatgi as the new Attorney General for India. Sources said the decision to appoint Rohatgi was taken by PM Narendra Modi and formal notification will be issued in the next couple of days.

One of country’s highest paid lawyers, Rohatgi was additional solicitor general during the previous NDA regime. He has represented the Modi-led Gujarat government in the SC in many 2002 Gujarat riot and fake encounter death cases, including the Best Bakery and Zahira Sheikh cases. He also represented BJP general secretary Varun Gandhi against the preventive detention order passed by the previous Mayawati government in UP for making a hate speech.

More recently, he appeared for the Italian marines involved in killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012.