Solicitor General of India

{{Infobox official post

| post = Solicitor General

| body = India

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| insignia = Emblem of India.svg

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| incumbent = Tushar Mehta

| incumbentsince = 11 October 2018

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| reports_to = Attorney General for India

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| appointer = ACC

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| termlength = 3 years (per discretion of ACC)

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| formation = 28 January 1950

| first = C. K. Daphtary

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| abbreviation = SGI

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| deputy = Addl. Solicitor Generals

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The Solicitor General of India (SGI) is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. The SGI is the second-highest law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by Additional Solicitors General of India (Addl. SGIs). The SGI and the Addl. SGIs advise the Union of India and appear on its behalf in terms of the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987.{{cite web|url=http://lawmin.nic.in/judicial/Service%20Rules.pdf|title=Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987}}

Unlike the post of Attorney General for India, which is a Constitutional post under Article 76 of the Indian Constitution, the posts of the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitor General are neither Constitutional nor statutory.{{cite book |last=Setalvad |first=Motilal C. |title=My Life: Law and Other Things |publisher=Universal Law Publishing |year= |isbn=978-8175341418 }}{{cite web

| title = The Solicitor General for India: Origin, Role and Limitations – The …

| url = https://thebasicstructureconlaw.wordpress.com/2022/07/25/the-solicitor-general-for-india-origin-role-and-limitations/

| date = 2025-02-23

| archiveurl = https://archive.today/20250223171804/https://thebasicstructureconlaw.wordpress.com/2022/07/25/the-solicitor-general-for-india-origin-role-and-limitations%EF%BF%BC/

| archivedate = 2025-02-23 }} The conditions of service of Law Officers are defined by The Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987,{{cite web|url=http://lawmin.nic.in/judicial/Service%20Rules.pdf|title=Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987}} made under the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309{{cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229015049/https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1123043/ |title=The Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987 |website=Indian Kanoon (archived) |date= |access-date=23 February 2025 |publisher=Government of India}} of the Indian Constitution.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) recommends the appointment and officially appoints the Solicitor General.{{cite web|url=https://www.greengazette.in/notices/the-president-is-pleased-to-appoint-shri-tushar-mehta-senior-advocate-as-solicitor-general_20181010-120-00019-00000.pdf|title=Extra Ordinary Gazette Notification for appointment}} The proposal for appointment of Solicitor General, Additional Solicitor General is generally moved at the level of Joint secretary (or Law Secretary) in the Department of Legal Affairs and after obtaining the approval of the Minister of Law & Justice, the proposal goes to the ACC and then to the president.

Currently, the Solicitor General of India is Tushar Mehta.{{Cite news |date=2018-10-11 |title=Tushar Mehta is new SG |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tushar-mehta-is-new-sg/article25185968.ece |access-date=2018-11-03 |issn=0971-751X}}

Duties

The Solicitor General works under the Attorney General of India. The duties of the Solicitor General are laid out in Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987:{{cite web|title=Law Officers (Condites, 1987|url=http://lawmin.nic.in/judicial/Service%20Rules.pdf|publisher=Gazette of India|access-date=25 May 2014}}

to give advice to the Government of India 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 Government of India.
to appear, whenever required, in the Supreme Court or in any High Court on behalf of the Government of India in cases (including suits, writ petitions, appeal and other proceedings) in which the Government of India is concerned as a party or is otherwise interested;
to represent the Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution; and
to discharge such other functions as are conferred on a Law Officer by or under the Constitution or any other Law for the time being in force.

Restrictions of private practice

As law officers representing the Government of India, SGIs are bound by certain restrictions concerning private practice. A law officer is not allowed to:

hold briefs in any court for any party, except the Government of India or the government of a State or any University, Government School or College, local authority, Public Service Commission, Port Trust, Port Commissioners, Government aided or Government managed hospitals, a Government company, any Corporation owned or controlled by the State, any body or institution in which the Government has a preponderating interest;
advice any party against the Government of India or a Public Sector Undertaking, or in cases in which he is likely to be called upon to advise, or appear for, the Government of India or a Public Sector Undertaking;
defend an accused person in a criminal prosecution, without the permission of the Government of India; or
accept appointment to any office in any company or corporation without the permission of the Government of India;
advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organisation or any Public Sector Undertaking unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs.

Fee and allowances payable

Fee and allowances payable to the law officers (including Attorney General of India, Solicitor General of India and the Additional Solicitors General) of the Government of India are as under:{{cite web|title=Fee and allowances payable to law officers|url=http://lawmin.nic.in/judicial/servicerules1.pdf|access-date=11 June 2014}}

S.No.	Nomenclature of the item of work	Rates of fees payable for appearance and other work
class="wikitable"
(1)	Suits, writ petitions, appeals and references under article 143	Rs. 16,000/- per case per day
(2)	Special leave petitions and other applications	Rs. 10,000/- per case per day
(3)	Settling pleadings (including affidavits)	Rs. 5,000/- per pleading
(4)	Settling Statement of Case	Rs. 6,000/- per case
(5)	For giving opinions in statements of cases sent by the Ministry of Law	Rs. 10,000/- per case
(6)	For written submission before the Supreme Court, High Court, and Commissions of Inquiry or Tribunals and the like	Rs. 10,000/- per case
(7)	Appearance in Courts outside Delhi	Rs. 40,000/- per day per case

In addition to the above fee payable for cases, a retainer fee is paid to the Solicitor General and the Addl. Solicitors General at the rate of Rs. 40,000, and Rs. 30,000 per month, respectively.

List of incumbent Law Officers

The list of incumbent Law Officers (i.e. AGI, SGI, Addl. SGIs) as of 10 September 2024 are as follows:{{cite web |title=List of Law Officers (As on 02.09.2022) |url=https://legalaffairs.gov.in/documents/list-law-officers |access-date= |publisher=Ministry of Law and Justice}}{{cite web |url=http://www.vakilno1.com/luminaries/SolicitorGen.html |title=Solicitor general |publisher=Vakilno1.com |access-date=28 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920174712/http://vakilno1.com/luminaries/SolicitorGen.html |archive-date=20 September 2012 |df=dmy-all }}

class="wikitable" ! colspan="4" \|List of Law Officers
colspan="2" \|Attorney General of India !Appointment !Term Length
colspan="2" \|R. Venkataramani \|1 October 2022 \|{{Age in years and days\|1 October 2022

class="wikitable"

! colspan="4" |List of Law Officers

colspan="2" |Attorney General of India

!Appointment

!Term Length

colspan="2" |R. Venkataramani

|1 October 2022

|{{Age in years and days|1 October 2022

}

! colspan="2" |Solicitor General of India

!Appointment

!Term Length

| colspan="2" | Tushar Mehta

|10 October 2018|| {{Age in years and days|10 October 2018|}}

! colspan="2" | Additional Solicitor General of India

!Appointment

! Term Length

| Vikramjit Banerjee

| rowspan="11" |Supreme Court

|5 March 2018|| {{Age in years and days|5 March 2018|}}

| K.M. Nataraj

|14 January 2019|| {{Age in years and days|14 January 2019|}}

|Suryaprakash V. Raju

|30 June 2020

|{{Age in years and days|30 June 2020|}}

|N. Venkataraman

|30 June 2020

|{{Age in years and days|30 June 2020|}}

|Aishwarya Bhati

|30 June 2020

|{{Age in years and days|30 June 2020|}}

|S. Dwarkanath

|10 September 2024