A couple of days after Rajasthan High Court reprimanded Rajasthan over appointment of advocate general (AG) and additional advocate generals (AAG), the government appointed Rajendra Prasad as advocate general. Though the government has sought time till February 5 to reply for the delay in appointment.
Senior advocate Rajendra Prasad was additional advocate general (AAG) in the BJP government from 2014 to 2018 when Vasundhara Raje was the chief minister. He has started law practice in 1985. In 2016, High Court has made him senior advocate.
Earlier, Rajasthan High Court had reprimanded state government for laxity in appointing advocate general and additional advocate the general despite elapsing of 49 days. The High Court had asked government to come up with a proper reason as to why AG and AAG were not appointed.
Advoacte Ravindra Kumar Mathur had filed a plea before the High Court over delay in the appointment of AG and AAG which is causing delay in legal procedures.
Before the appointment of Rajendra Prasad, Mahendra Singh Singhvi was the advocate general. The post has been vacant since November 2023. Recently, the state government had handed over additional charge of AG to Rajesh Mehrishi, who had been appointed as AAG by former Congress government. The order was rolled back within hours.
Who is Advocate General?
The advocate general of a state is a constitutional post and authority duly appointed as per Article 165 of the Constitution of India.
The Governor appoints a person who is qualified to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court to be advocate general.
The role of advocate general to give advice to state government upon such legal matters and to perform such other duties of a legal character; as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the Governor and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under this constitution or any other law for the time being in force.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
