Senior Advocate Maninderjit Singh Bedi took over as Advocate General (AG) of Punjab in March 2025. He is the fourth Advocate General to be appointed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government since it came to power in March 2022..Senior Advocate Dr Anmol Rattan Sidhu, the first AG of the AAP government resigned within six months. Senior Advocates Vinod Ghai and Gurminder Singh left the office in their second year.Bar & Bench’s Sofi Ahsan spoke to Advocate General Bedi about his experiences in the office as he completes his one year this month..Edited excerpts follow..Sofi Ahsan (SA): Please tell us about yourself. How did you come into the law field?.Maninderjit Singh Bedi (MSB): I am a third generation lawyer. I studied law at Punjabi University in Patiala. There was an atmosphere of legal discussions in the family and as it happens, I continued with the legacy. My grandfather was a lawyer and then my father and my uncle took the mantle. There wouldn’t have been many struggles had I continued to practice at Rampura Phul, but once I came to Chandigarh, things were different. No one knew my family here. .SA: You are about to complete a year in office, after three of your predecessors resigned in the last four years. What has been your experience so far? What makes the Punjab Advocate General’s post so difficult?.MSB: It has been very good. We have had almost a 90 per cent success rate. It is always the government’s discretion to have an Advocate General of their choice. Every government wants results. The pressure is always there when one is one a higher post. The government would naturally want that their policy stands in court. But, for me, there hasn’t been any difficulty..SA: Are there any changes you have brought in to ensure better practices in how the State defends its actions in court?.MSB: We are here working 24x7 for the State. We are available even at midnight. We devise a strategy for important cases and our senior-most law officers appear in them. We are seeing to it that some matters are disposed of at government level only. It includes small matters also. Our policy is to ensure that litigation is reduced..SA: Have AI tools been made available to the government counsel? MSB: We are not using AI much. Other infrastructure is available to the counsel. There have been instances of AI giving false judgments. We have to see the authenticity of these tools. AI has to grow as a tool..SA: There is a proposal of working Saturdays in the pipeline. How do you see it affecting government advocates?.MSB: In case the High Court decides to implement it, who are we to oppose it? We anyway work the entire week. .SA: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has flagged the disparity in remunerations of government counsel in Punjab and Haryana. Has this been taken up with the government? .MSB: We are considering it very positively. Back in 2017, Haryana counsel’s used to be (paid) less than ours, but some changes were brought in then. We are looking at it now..SA: Recently, an activist and journalists were booked for raising questions about the use of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s helicopter. A newspaper group came to court alleging political vendetta. What is your take on such cases? .MSB: There is no politics. Are big media houses beyond law? There were violations of law and action was taken as per the law. Coming to the helicopter use case, the action was taken as wrong information was being spread that someone else was using the helicopter. The Governor was using the helicopter. All this spreads distrust against the government. Even when it was known who was using the helicopter, no correction was published. The police are acting as per the law. .SA: Assembly elections in the State are next year, do you anticipate more legal challenges? .MSB: Obviously, the cases will be there. We are here to defend the State. .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.
