Senior Advocate Maninder Singh has resigned from his position as the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) after serving as a law officer in the post for over four years.

Singh became Senior Advocate in 2008 and was appointed ASG in June 2014 after the NDA government came to power in the Centre.

Maninder Singh resigned on October 10, which is the same day when Tushar Mehta was appointed to the post of Solicitor General of India.  Singh says that his tenure as ASG added tremendously to his experience as a Senior Advocate and to his knowledge in law.

“The opportunity given to me has tremendously added into my experience as a Senior Advocate and my knowledge in law.” The letter also lauds the “positive attitude” and co-operation of all Ministries and departments of the government of India. “The positive attitude and co-operation from all Ministries and Departments of the Government of India has enabled me to discharge my responsibilities with utmost sincerity and to the best of my ability.”

The letter does not offer any reason for his resignation instead ending on abrupt note by stating that he is submitting his resignation. “I wish to get relieved of this responsibility of the office of the Additional Solicitor General of India. I am, therefore, submitting my resignation.”

Singh is the senior most among the ASGs. After Singh’s resignation and Tushar Mehta’s appointment as the Solicitor General, there are four ASGs for the Centre in the Supreme Court – Pinky Anand, Atmaram Nadkarni, Vikramjit Banerjee, and Aman Lekhi.

This is the third resignation by an ASG within a span of four months with Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi resigning as the ASG in July this year followed by Senior Advocate PS Narasimha resigning from the post earlier in October.

(The story was updated on October 20, 2018 at 11.35 am)