The post of Solicitor General (SG), the country’s second-highest law officer, fell vacant on Friday following a surprise decision by incumbent Ranjit Kumar to step down. In a letter addressed to Union law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Kumar cited “personal” grounds behind his decision to resign.
Government sources confirmed that Kumar’s resignation letter has reached the office of the law Minister. However, no decision has yet been taken on the possible replacement, as the Government is expected to process names for the post next week, sources added. Speaking to news channels, Kumar said he was unable to spare time for his family.
Kumar served as SG for three years and four months, even though he was appointed for a three-year period by the present BJP-led Government at the Centre on June 7, 2014, soon after it came to power. On expiry of his term on June 6, 2017, the Government issued yet another notification under law Officer (Conditions of Service) Rules 1987, extending his term for an unspecified period till further orders. He continued for another four months till his decision to resign from office.
Kumar appeared in a host of cases involving vexed Constitutional issues and previously assisted the Supreme Court as amicus curiae in a series of PIls to curb pollution in Delhi and the Yamuna River’s deteriorating condition.
The SG’s post is quite crucial as being the second-highest law officer after the Attorney-General, the office of the SG handles important cases involving the Centre and States in the SC. To help him, the Government had appointed a team of Additional Solicitor Generals (ASGs).
Currently there are four ASGs, the senior-most being Maninder Singh followed by Tushar Mehta, who handle the bulk of cases on a routine basis in the apex court.
While it is not known what prompted Kumar to quit, there was talk that of late, the pressure of work at the SC had increased significantly. There are few ASGs to handle the bulk of cases in the apex court and the pressure was on Kumar to represent the Government in high-profile cases.
Following Kumar’s decision to quit, the Government is likely to consider elevating one of the ASGs to the post of SG by order of seniority after obtaining consent of the law officer concerned. According to sources in the law Ministry, this process is expected to be taken up by the law Minister in consultation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In July this year, the Government had appointed KK Venugopal as the country’s 15th AG replacing Mukul Rohatgi, who offered to resign after his term got over on June 11, 2017.