Mukul Rohatgi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mukul Rohatgi

• Mukul Rohatgi is an Indian lawyer and designated Senior Counsel at the Supreme Court of India, who is considered among India’s top 10 most influential and most expensive lawyers. He was the 14th Attorney General for India (from 19 June 2014 to 18 June 2017), making Rohatgi the top law officer of the NDA government. He was succeeded by K. K. Venugopal.

• The senior advocate had also served as the Additional Solicitor General of India for five years before he was appointed the AG under the NDA government (from 19 June 2014 to 18 June 2017).

•  After completing his law studies, Mukul, initially, started working in the Delhi High Court under Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal, who was later appointed the 36th Chief Justice of India. ^[7]The Economic Times Eventually, Mukul started his own legal practice.

• Mukul Rohatgi officially joined the Bar Council of Delhi as an advocate in 1978, and in 1994, he was appointed as a senior counsel by the Delhi High Court. The Government of India appointed him the Additional Solicitor General of India in November 1999, and his tenure ended in May 2004 with the change of the government. ^[8]Legal Era

  

• Mukul Rohatgi, who worked for five years as a law officer during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, has argued on behalf of the Gujarat government in the Supreme Court in the 2002 riots and fake encounter cases. ^[9]DailyO

• In his capacity as the Attorney General, Mukul represented and successfully defended the central government in multiple of importance including triple talaq, fake encounters in Manipur, criminal defamation, the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) case, the challenges to the Aadhaar case, etc. ^[10]The Wire Some reports published that Mr Rohatgi was asked to leave office in 2015 after he failed to defend the government in the NJAC cases. ^[11]DailyO

• The senior lawyer has represented various high-profile clients. He represented Anil Ambani in the apex court in the gas dispute between the two Ambani brothers. Mukul has also defended several Indian politicians, including Jayalalithaa, in corruption cases and the big corporates like Adanis and Robert Vadra in the 2G scam trial. ^[12]India Today

• The advocate stepped from the post of Attorney General on 18 June 2017, citing that he wanted to return to private practice. When Rohatgi was asked about his decision, he said in an interview, ^[13]HuffPost
  

  I have conveyed to the government last month that I don’t wish to seek re-appointment. I consider the three-year term as enough and I had also served the previous BJP government for five years. I would like to return to private practice.”

• In 2017, Rohatgi defended the government’s policy of demonetisation. In the next year, the senior counsel was appointed the special prosecutor by the Maharashtra government in judge BH Loya death case, and he received a whopping fee of Rs. 1.20 crore from the Maharashtra government. ^[14]The Economic Times

• In 2020, Mr Rohatgi represented the Bihar Government against Rhea Chakraborty’s plea seeking a stay on the investigation in the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case. ^[15]India Today

• In 2021, he represented Facebook and WhatsApp before the Delhi High Court in their petitions challenging the 2021 IT Rules. In the same year, Mukul represented former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh before the Supreme Court in a petition filed by the commissioner, seeking an investigation into the allegations made by former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. ^[16]India Today

• Sr. Ad. Rohatgi was also a part of the team defending the makers of the web series Tandav before the Supreme Court in the criminal cases filed against them. He has also defended former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in the Supreme Court in a case of alleged fraud. ^[17]India Today

• In October 2021, Mr Rohatgi was again called for his services by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to defend his son Aryan Khan‘s bail plea in the cruise ship drug case. Soon, the former AGI successfully managed to secure bail for the superstar’s 23-year-old son on 28 October – something which Khan’s legal team comprising of other senior advocates was trying for the past few weeks.

• Rohatgi loves travelling. He said in an interview, ^[18]The Times of India
  

  I spend my money on travelling and staying in good hotels across the world. “