Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi declines Center's offer to return as Attorney General for India

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi on Sunday declined the central government's proposal to be appointed as the next Attorney General for India. Notably, Rohatgi was set to be appointed as the 14th Attorney General of India replacing the incumbent KK Venugopal.

Talking about his decision to decline the Center's offer, Rohatgi noted that there was no particular reason for the same and he 'thought about it again' and decided not to take it up, news agency ANI reported. Rohatgi served the post for the first time from June 2014 and June 2017. It would have been his second tenure as AG.

The present Attorney General KK Venugopal succeeded Rohatgi on July 1, 2017, for a three-year term. 91-year-old Venugopal was given two one-year extensions beyond his three-year term by the Union government. Earlier this year in June, the Center urged Venugopal to extend his term by three more months till September 30, to let the government search for a new AG.

Citing health problems, present AG KK Venugopal expressed unwillingness to continue in the post beyond September 30, afterwards which, 67-year-old Rohatgi was offered to be appointed as the Attorney General.

Notably, Rohatgi is a senior advocate at the Supreme Court and has earlier served as Additional Solicitor General of India.