Goolam E Vahanvati appointed Attorney General

New Delhi, June 8 (PTI) Senior advocate Goolam E
Vahanvati, who has articulated the government's views on
sensitive cases like reservation in educational institutions
and tainted ministers, was Monday appointed as the Indian
Attorney General, the country's top law officer.

Vahanvati, 60, who was the Solicitor General during
the previous UPA government and was the front-runner for the
post, assumed his office Monday.

"I have taken charge as the Attorney General," he told
PTI.

Immediately after assuming the office, Vahanvati, who
hails from western state of Maharashtra, appeared in the
Supreme Court and received congratulations from a vacation
Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and Aftab Alam for
his elevation.

The congratulation came when the Bench, which
addressed Vahanvati as the Solicitor General, was told by the
Supreme Court Bar Association President M N Krishnamani about
his new post.

As Solicitor General since 2004, Vahanvati appeared in
key cases relating to several constitutional and revenue
matters but the high point was sucessful defence of the
challenge to the controversial 27 per cent quota for OBCs in
elite central educational institutions.

He also voiced the Centre's stand before the
nine-judge constitution bench in the matter relating to Ninth
Schedule of the Constitution in which the Supreme Court came
out with the landmark ruling that the laws put in the Schedule
were open to judicial review.

As the Solictor General, Vahanvati appeared in all
matters pertaining to sealing of commercial premises in
residential areas in the national capital and the challenges
to the controversial legislations connected to it like Delhi
Laws Special Provisions Act, 2007 and Master Plan 2021 for
Delhi.

One of the most contentious matter in which Vahanvati
defended the Centre was relating to dissolution of Bihar
Assembly in 2005 on the recommendation of Governor Buta Singh,
which the five-judge constitution bench held as illegal and
unconstitutional.

He also appeared for the government in a PIL
relating to prosecution of RJD chief and the then Railway
Minister Lalu Prasad and in a fodder scam case and had
defended the appointment of P C Sharma, former CBI Director,
as a member of NHRC.

Also, the Supreme Court in the past five years took
his service as amicus curaie in several important cases having
bearing on the Constitution and also in the sensitive case of
Uttar Pradesh Provident Fund scam in which the names of 34
judicial officers including an apex court judge cropped up.

Besides arguing the cases for the Centre and its
various departments in the apex court and High Courts,
Vahanvati was appointed by the International Cricket Council
to hold an inquiry into allegations of racism in Zimbabwe with
High Court Judge Steven Majiedt in September 2004.

Vahanvati was also appointed to head Commission to
inquire into allegations of racial abuse on South African
cricketers during the proteas tour of Australia in December
2005.

Among other international assignments, Vahanvati, who
graduated in law from Government Law College, Mumbai and was
among the toppers, was being part of a delegation led by the
Chief Justice of India to many countries during his tenure as
the Solicitor General.

Prior to his appointment as the Solicitor General in
2004, he was the Advocate General of Maharashtra from December
from December 1999 to June 2004. PTI RKS
AM
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