KK Venugopal front runner for the post of Attorney General

Senior Advocate KK Venugopal is likely to take over as the 15^th Attorney General for India. According to highly placed sources, Venugopal has emerged as the front runner for the post though the final call will be taken by the Prime Minister after he returns from his foreign trip.

Bar & Bench had reported on June 12 that Venugopal is one of the main contenders for the post. Besides, Venugopal, Senior Advocate Harish Salve, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar and Gujarat Advocate General Kamal Trivedi were the other names considered for the post.

Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s tenure had ended on June 11, 2017.

Senior Advocate KK Venugopal has been a practising lawyer for nearly six decades. Widely regarded as an expert in Constitutional Law, KK Venugopal shifted base to Delhi from Chennai, 25 years after joining the Bar in Madras.

Venugopal by his own admission came to legal field by sheer accident as he could not complete his BSc in Physics.

He enrolled at the Bar in January 1954 in the then Mysore High Court and thereafter in the Madras High Court and started his practice under his father, MK Nambiar. He initially practiced in motor vehicles litigation relating to the grant of motor vehicle permits, inter-State permits and variation of routes.

He began appearing in Supreme Court in 1960s when the Advocates Act was enacted which provided for a unified bar throughout the country where, by enrolling in one High Court, a lawyer would be entitled to practice in all High Courts in India as well as in the Supreme Court of India. He grew in eminence as a Constitutional Law Expert and was designated Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court in 1972.

Read our full interview with KK Venugopal here.