AG Rohatgi tells govt he wants to step down as top law official
NEW DELHI: Days after attorney general Mukul Rohatgi’s term was extended, he has shot off a letter to the government expressing his desire to no longer continue in office.
In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rohatgi said he wants to step down as the country’s top law official and return to private practice. “I want to return to my private practice. I have a good relationship with the government... That’s why I wrote to the government not to extend my term,” Rohatgi said, confirming his letter. His letter caught the government by surprise since it was only a week ago that Rohatgi was given an ad hoc extension.
The extension did not specify till when he would hold the post.
Rohatgi’s stepping down will trigger a race for the top law offi- cer’s position. He was appointed the 14th attorney general of India in 2014 for three years and his term ended on June 6.
During his stint as AG, Rohatgi argued in many contentious matters like the challenge to NJAC Act on appointment of judges for the higher judiciary. Recently, he assisted the Supreme Court in the ‘triple talaq’ matter.
Son of former Delhi high court judge justice Awadh Behari Rohatgi, the AG has represented the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court in the 2002 Gujarat riots and fake encounter death cases, including the Best Bakery and Zahira Sheikh cases.