Celebrated advocate KK Venugopal, 91, was on Wednesday re-appointed the Attorney General for India for three months, the law ministry said.
Venugopal, the chief legal adviser to the government and top law officer of the country, was not willing to continue in the position due to 'personal reasons' but acceded to a request by the government, officials said.
"The President is pleased to re-appoint Shri KK Venugopal, Senior Advocate as Attorney General for India with effect from 1st July, 2022 for a further period of three months or until further orders, whichever is earlier" a notification issued by the Department of Legal Affairs in the law ministry said.
His present one-year term was to end on June 30.
Venugopal, the oldest person to occupy the post, was appointed as the Attorney General for India in July 2017, succeeding Mukul Rohatgi. He was subsequently reappointed to the post.
The attorney general usually has a tenure of three years. When Venugopal's first term as AG was to end in 2020, he had requested the government to relieve him of his responsibilities on account of his advanced age.
However, he later accepted a fresh tenure of one year, as the government was keen on Venugopal's continuance given the high-profile cases he was handling and his vast experience at the Bar.
An eminent advocate of the Supreme Court, Venugopal has appeared in a large number of cases involving important issues of constitutional and corporate law, including the constitutional challenge to the dilution of Article 370 and the matter related to Section 124-A of the IPC pertaining to sedition.
He was an Additional Solicitor General of India between 1979 and 1980 and a recipient of Padma Bhushan in 2002 and Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
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