Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar resigns, becomes second top law officer to quit in months

The Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar has resigned from his post, media outlets are reporting.

Just In: Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar resigns on 'personal grounds'

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) October 20, 2017

Kumar spoke to CNN-News18 and said that he has resigned due to personal reasons. He said that he has family issues to attend to and had to resign because he couldn’t give time to as required by the office of the Solicitor-General. The channel reported that the Additional Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta is now the front-runner for the post as he has already been leading the arguments in many cases with great political implications. Another reason which could be behind the resignation is that the Modi government wants a new legal team which has more teeth and is more discreet. The report also expected that the notification appointing the new Solicitor-General will also appoint two new Additional Solicitors-General as well. Kumar was appointed as the Solicitor General in June 2014, reported News18. He had been a counsel for the Gujarat government and amicus curiae in several cases in the Supreme Court. Among the cases he represented was the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. Kumar had also represented then Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case pending in a Bangalore court. [caption id=“attachment_4159383” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of former Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar. Twitter: @DailyExcelsior1[/caption] He had replaced senior advocate Mohan Parasaran, who had tendered his resignation after the BJP-led NDA government took charge, according to The Indian Express. Kumar becomes the second top law officer to quit in the space of just a few months after Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi had stepped down from his post. His three-year tenure was supposed to come to an end on 19 June and he had asked the Central government not to consider him for reappointment or an extension as the country’s top law officer. Rohatgi had said that he had written to the government in May conveying his desire to discontinue as Attorney-General and return to private practice.  Rohatgi had said that he had a fantastic relation with the prime minister, law minister and bureaucracy during the tenure. “Even if I return to private practice, my services will be available to NDA government, BJP and its leaders as and when needed,” he had said.   With inputs from agencies