With reference to the Attorney General of India, which of the following statement/s is/are correct?

(1) A person is appointed as Attorney General, who is qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

(2) The Attorney General can be removed through the same process as the Judges of the Supreme Court.

Select the correct answer from the code given below -

The correct answer is Only 1.

Key Points

• According to Article 76 of the Indian Constitution, the President shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court to be Attorney-General for India. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Attorney General is appointed for an indefinite term and holds office till the pleasure of the President of India. Hence statement 2 is incorrect.
• Any former Attorney General of India(AGI) is eligible for reappointment.
• AGI is not a government servant and is not debarred from private legal practice.
• It shall be the duty of an Attorney General:
  • to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time, be referred or assigned to him by the Government of India;
  • to appear, whenever required, in the Supreme Court or in any High Court on behalf of the Government of India in cases (including suits, writ petitions, appeals, and other proceedings) in which the Government of India is concerned as a party or is otherwise interested;
  • to represent the Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution, and
  • to discharge such other functions as are conferred on him by or under the Constitution or any other law for the time being in force;
• Where an Attorney General appears or does other work on behalf of the bodies of the Union of India such as the Election Commission, the Union Public Service Commission, etc. he shall only be entitled to fees on the scales as same as for the above functions.