Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar appointed Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor in Bombay High Court

The Maharashtra government appointed Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar as the Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor for the Bombay High Court effective Wednesday..A notification was issued by the Department of Law and Judiciary Maharashtra government."As per Order 27 of the Code of Civil Procedure, section 24 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Rule 13 of the Maharashtra Law Officers (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Remuneration) Rules, advocate Hiten Shyamrao Venegaonkar is newly appointed as 'Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor' for a period of two years from the date of order or till the date on which he attains the age of 62 years, whichever is earlier," the notification said. .Venegaonkar will now be in charge of the appellate side cases of the High Court to represent the State government which include suits, civil appeals, etc. .Venegaonkar had earlier served as additional government pleader and public prosecutor for the State government. He had also appeared as special counsel for the Central government. He represented agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in financial fraud cases involving Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan etc.Venegaonkar told Bar & Bench that he will continue to appear for the Central government in selective cases.The notification specifies that this appointment is for a tenure of 2 years or till the superannuation age of 62 years whichever is earlier..Additional PP Aruna Shantaram Pai was handed over the additional charge of GP and PP in July 2021 after Deepak Thakare resigned from the post in the same month.Her additional charge now comes to an end after the issuance of the present notification.