Four lawyers likely to be made ASG in Supreme Court

The Central government is likely to appoint four lawyers to the post of Additional Solicitor General (ASG), reports Indian Express.

The potential appointees are Senior Advocates Aman Lekhi, Sandeep Sethi and Vikramjit Banerjee, as well as advocate Madhavi Divan.

After obtaining a degree in English at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, Divan went on to pursue law at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, UK. After starting her practice at the Bombay High Court, Divan moved to the Supreme Court, where she has represented two state governments – Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. She is also an accomplished author.

Lekhi graduated in Political Science from Hindu College, Delhi University, and received a law degree from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University. A designated Senior Advocate, Lekhi has appeared in a number of high profile cases, including the 2G spectrum case, the 2000 terrorist attack on Red Fort, and the 2010 Machil killings.

Sethi is known to be an IPR expert, and has appeared in numerous cases at the Delhi High Court, including the Republic-Tharoor case, the WhatsApp Privacy case, and the SpiceJet case, among others.

Banerjee is a graduate of National Law School of India University, Bangalore. He completed an LL.M. from the University of Leicester in 2000, following which he started practicing in the Calcutta High Court. Eight years later, he moved to the Supreme Court where he has been practicing ever since. He has served as Advocate General of Nagaland, before being designated as a Senior Counsel by the Gauhati High Court in 2016.

The Centre currently has five ASGs operating in the Supreme Court – Tushar Mehta, Maninder Singh, Pinky Anand, PS Narasimha and Atmaram Nadkarni.

The post of Solicitor General for India has been lying vacant for more than three months, since Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar had resigned from the post on October 20 last year.