May,25,2015: In a surprising move, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition that objected to the appointment of Mukul Rohatgi as the Attorney General (AG). The plea also sought framing of detailed guidelines and criteria "at par with other constitutional positions" for selection of persons to the particular post. Rohatgi, who was a senior Supreme Court lawyer, was appointed the Attorney General by the Narendra Modi-led government on June 12 last year.
Petitioner Vibhor Anand, a law student, said in his plea: "There is a need to frame a set of rules, procedures and guidelines on a par with other constitutional posts for the post of Attorney General of India as the Constitution of India is silent over the selection and appointment procedure to the post of AG, which resulted in the post becoming a political rather than constitutional post, full of arbitrariness and political whims and fancies against the public interest and without following any procedure and of law which amount to zero transparency".
Anand received a letter from the assistant registrar of the Supreme Court informing him that his petition will be heard in chamber by a judge on July 10.
"The writ petition will be listed before a honourable judge in chamber on July 10, Friday and will be taken up by the court on the same day… you are requested to appear before the court on the said date and take part in the proceedings as may be advised," the letter said.
"That the qualifications required for appointment both as a Supreme Court judge and the Attorney General of India are the same, but the procedure for selection and appointment adopted is completely different as the office of the Supreme Court judge is fully accountable, transparent, with oath, under public scrutiny and with a age bar, whereas the office of the Attorney General of India are completely unaccountable, non transparent, without oath, without any age bar and is done by pick-and-choose policy by political masters with vested interest," the petition alleged.
The plea noted that "Rohtagi had represented the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court in many cases on the 2002 SC to hear petition seeking guidelines for AG appointment By Harish V. Nair in New Delhi Gujarat riots and fake encounter. These include the Best Bakery and Zahira Sheikh cases".
Anand contended that the appointment of majority of the previous 13 AG were in contradiction of article 124(2) as they were posted after they attained 65 years. "On January 28, 1950 M.C. Setalvad was appointed the first Attorney General of India at the age of 65+ and remained in office for over 13 years. On March 2, 1963 C.K. Daphtary appointed the second Attorney General of India at the age of 70+ and remained in office for over 5 years. On November 01, 1968 Shri Niren De was appointed the third Attorney General of India at the age of 65+ and remained in office for over 11 years.
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