A few days before Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Senior Advocate takes over as Attorney General of India, the Ministry of Law, Government of India has issued directions to its agencies responsible to allocate matters to the Government Advocates, making it mandatory, to place a list of all the cases first before the Attorney General to let him select the matter where he feels his appearance is necessary.

The office memorandum, issued by the Department of Legal Affairs on September 13, 2022 states that “In respect of cases before the Supreme Court, the list of cases on a daily basis will first be placed before the learned Attorney General for India for the purpose of his selecting the matters in which he considers his appearance to be necessary. The list of cases will thereafter be placed before the learned Solicitor General of India.”

The same office memorandum further states that after the AG picks up the cases for himself, the Solicitor General can mark other cases to himself, additional solicitors generals, and government lawyers, who can either appear alone or with the AG or the SG. The ministry directed all central agency section (CAS) officials to ensure strict compliance with the procedure being laid down.

Presently, the Central Agency Section prepares the list of cases which are listed before different benches in the Supreme Court, and places it before Solicitor General’s office for the allocation of work to otherlaw officers. It is to be noted that such directions have been issued for the first time by the Law Ministry and it has come in the backdrop of Mukul Rohatgi taking charge on October 1, 2022.