K K Venugopal appointed as new AG

New Delhi: Senior advocate and constitutional expert K K Venugopal was appointed the 15th attorney general for India on Friday . The 86-yearold will bring a wealth of experience and legal gravitas to defend the Centre's policies in constitutional courts.Venugopal's name was cleared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately after he returned from the US and the proposal received President Pranab Mukherjee's assent. Venugopal will succeed Mukul Rohatgi, who after a three-year stint as the country's top law officer, wanted to return to private practice.Venugopal, who was an additional solicitor general in 1977, returns as a law officer after four decades. Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad welcomed the appointment and said the seasoned constitutional expert would marry experience and knowledge and lend weight to the top law officer's post.Former AG Soli J Sorabjee told TOI, “I am absolutely delighted. I congratulate the NDA government for making the right decision and also congratulate Venugopal for accepting the offer although it means a dip in his legal practice. He will lend stature and dignity to the office which I was privileged to occupy in the past.“ Congress leader and senior advocate A M Singhvi said, “Venugopal will bring stature, gravitas and valuable experience to the top post.“Sprightly for his age, Venugopal carries a very different persona from most of his 12 predecessors. With more than 50 years of practice in the Supreme Court, his legal acumen is accompanied by a serene exterior and he remains calm even during the most stormy arguments in court.Having travelled from Antarctica to the Arctic Circle, the man believes in losing small battles in the cour troom to judges to win the final war. On Friday , he showed his cautious side by refusing to comment till he got the official notification appointing him as AG.Venugopal donates large sums for legal education, medical facilities in tribal areas of Kerala and other charitable purposes. Though he is one of the busiest senior lawyers in the SC, he utilises the vacations to indulge in his hobbies, including trying out new cuisines.“I have trekked to Mansarovar in Tibet and through the Silent Valley in Kerala. I had been to Pyongyang in North Korea. I have snorkelled in the Caribbean, in El Gouna on the Red Sea and in the Maldives. I loved travelling to exotic places like Antarctica, the Galapagos, Lhasa and the Arctic Circle,“ he had told TOI, which had featured him among the top ten SC lawyers. He is a collector of antiquarian books and possesses a large personal library , including many books published in the 17th and 18th century .Venugopal, who started appearing in the SC in the early 1960s while being based in erstwhile Madras, was designated as a senior advocate by the SC in 1972. Five years later, he was invited by the Janata Party government led by Morarji Desai to become an additional solicitor general which warranted shifting from Madras to Delhi.