New Delhi: “Softspoken” and “patient” but also assertive and a “true jurist”— these are just some of the characteristics that lawyers ascribe to senior advocate R. Venkataramani, the next Attorney General of India.
The President of India on 28 September appointed Venkataramani as the Modi government’s top law officer for three years. Aged 72, the senior counsel will accede to the post on 1 October, when the current incumbent, senior advocate K.K. Venugopal, retires. His appointment comes days after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi withdrew his consent to take over the position from Venugopal.
Having spent more than four decades in the Supreme Court, Venkataramani has argued cases ranging from constitutional issues to taxation. But litigation has not stopped him from pursuing his other interests, such as teaching and writing.
Venkataramani is attached to several law colleges where he takes classes, mostly during court breaks. When the top court shuts down for summer vacation, Venkataramani spends a lot of his time at these institutes teaching budding lawyers. His juniors say he rarely goes on long vacations, unlike other seniors who prefer international holidays during summer recess.
Given that Venkataramani has maintained an apolitical profile in his career, the senior advocate’s appointment came as a surprise in legal circles. But whoever ThePrint spoke to welcomed his nomination to the AG’s office.
Supreme Court advocate Balaji Srinivasan said Venkataramani’s appointment reflects “out of the box” thinking by the government.
“He is a serious scholar, a genuinely learned man, and a venerable person with sound judgement who will offer sage advice and have a calming effect,” Srinivasan said, adding that he expects Venkataramani to “elevate the nature of debate and thinking to unimaginable levels”.
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Law Commission, hijab case, international assignments
A graduate in physics from Loyola College, Chennai, Venkataramani studied law at Pondicherry Law College. After enrolling in the Tamil Nadu Bar Council in 1977, he worked in Puducherry for two years before he moved to Delhi in 1979. Three years later, he joined the office of veteran lawyer P.P. Rao, who has since passed away.
After almost 18 years of legal practice, Venkataramani was designated a senior advocate by the Supreme Court in 1997.
Since then, he has also appeared as a special counsel for the states of Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh for more than a decade.
Although he is soft-spoken in court corridors as well as inside the courtroom, his juniors emphasise that Venkataramani is an assertive lawyer.
Patience is his forte, advocate Ashok Panigrahi told ThePrint. “I have never seen him angry. He is a true jurist. He never goes unprepared or half-prepared to the court in any matter.”
Most recently, Venkataramani appeared for a group of teachers who opposed the wearing of hijabs by Muslim girl students in Karnataka. He is also a court-appointed receiver in the Amrapali case and has in the last three years assisted the court in arranging funds to complete the stalled residential projects of the company.
In addition, he has been engaged as special counsel by various central government ministries, such as finance and health. He has also represented public sector corporations.
His vast experience as a legal scholar has brought him several national and international assignments. He served as a member of the Law Commission twice — in 2010 and 2013 — and was a co-opted member of the expert group constituted by the Ministry of Minority Affairs to examine and determine the structure and functions of an Equal Opportunity Commission.
He was invited to be a member of the ethics committee of the Indian Council for Medical Research, and has also served as law member in the Expert Group on Welfare Legislations set up by the Planning Commission of India in 1990.
Venkataramani was also part of the sub-committee on Directive Principles of State Policy, constituted under the chairmanship of Justice M. N. Venkatachaliah to review the Constitution.
His international engagements include being part of the South Asian Task Force on judiciary consisting of members of SAARC nations, working with the International Court of Justice on its activities in the Afro-Asian region, and drafting an instrument on the Right to Food in Berlin.
Mentor, poet, author
Venkataramani’s juniors say that he has been a mentor to many lawyers.
Speaking to ThePrint, lawyer Alok Kumar said: “Being a student of professor Madhava Menon (a noted legal educationist), he picked up the trait of being a lawyer-cum-teacher. He carries on the legacy of professor Menon under MILAT (Menon Institution of Legal Advocacy and Training) to train 50 young lawyers in the art of advocacy.”
Apart from this, he is also an avid poet and enjoys writing on subjects related to law, albeit mostly for “personal consumption”, his juniors add.
Nevertheless, there are several publications to his credit. He co-authored his first book in 1975 and then went on to write more in later years, including one on judgments by Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy and a legal handbook called The Supreme Court Practice & Procedure.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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