Solicitor General of India
The Solicitor General of India is subordinate to the Attorney General for India. He/She is the second law officer of the country, assists the Attorney General, and is himself/herself assisted by Additional Solicitors General for India. Currently, the Solicitor General of India is Tushar Mehta. Like the Attorney General for India, the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General advise the Government and appear on behalf of the Union of India in terms of the Law Officers Rules, 1972. However, unlike the post of Attorney General for India, which is a Constitutional post under Article 76 of the Constitution of India, the posts of the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General are merely statutory.
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet recommends the appointment and president officially appoints the Solicitor General. The proposal for appointment of Solicitor General, Additional Solicitor General is generally moved at the, level of Joint secretary/Law Secretary in the Department of Legal Affairs and after obtaining the approval of the Minister of Law & Justice, the proposal goes to the ACC and then to the president.
Duties
Duties of Solicitor General are laid out in Law Officers Rules, 1987:- 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 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 a Law Officer by or under the Constitution or any other Law for the time being in force.
Restrictions of private practice
- hold briefs in any court for any party except the Government of India or the government of a State or any University, Government School or College, local authority, Public Service Commission, Port Trust, Port Commissioners, Government aided or Government managed hospitals, a Government company, any Corporation owned or controlled by the State, any body or institution in which the Government has a preponderating interest;
- advice any party against the Government of India or a Public Sector Undertaking, or in cases in which he is likely to be called upon to advise, or appear for, the Government of India or a Public Sector Undertaking;
- defend an accused person in a criminal prosecution, without the permission of the Government of India; or
- accept appointment to any office in any company or corporation without the permission of the Government of India;
- advise any Ministry or Department of Government of India or any statutory organisation or any Public Sector Undertaking unless the proposal or a reference in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and Justice, Department of Legal Affairs.
Fee and allowances payable
| S.No. | Nomenclature of the item of work | Rates of fees payable for appearance and other work |
| Suits, writ petitions, appeals and references under article 143 | Rs. 16,000/- per case per day | |
| Special leave petitions and other applications | Rs. 10,000/- per case per day | |
| Settling pleadings | Rs. 5,000/- per pleading | |
| Settling Statement of Case | Rs. 6,000/- per case | |
| For giving opinions in statements of cases sent by the Ministry of Law | Rs. 10,000/- per case | |
| For written submission before the Supreme Court, High Court, and Commissions of Inquiry or Tribunals and the like | Rs. 10,000/- per case | |
| Appearance in Courts outside Delhi | Rs. 40,000/- per day per case |
In addition to the above fee payable for cases, a retainer fee is paid to the Attorney General of India, Solicitor General of India and the Additional Solicitors General at the rate of Rs. 50,000, Rs. 40,000, and Rs. 30,000 per month, respectively. Moreover, the Attorney General of India is also paid a sumptuary allowance of rupees four thousand per month, except during the period of his leave.
Current Solicitor General and Additional Solicitors General
The current Solicitor General of India and Additional Solicitors General as of 11 October 2018 are as follows:| Solicitor General | Term |
| Tushar Mehta | 11 October 2018 - 30 June 2020 |
| Additional Solicitors General of India | Term |
| Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee | |
| Mr. Atmaram Nadkarni | |
| Mr. Aman Lekhi | 28 June 2018 - 30 June 2020 |
| Ms. Madhavi Goradia Diwan | |
| Mr. K.M. Nataraj | |
| Ms. Pinky Anand | 9 July 2014 – 8 July 2017 |
| Mr. Anil C Singh | 9 July 2014 – 8 July 2017 |
| Mr. Sanjay Jain | 23 July 2014 – 22 July 2017 |
| Mr. G.Rajagopalan | 28 July 2014 – 27 July 2017 |
| Mr. Prabhuling K Navadgi | 8 April 2015 – 7 April 2018 |
| Mr. Rajdeepak Rastogi | 28 July 2014 – June 2019 |
| Mr. Shashi Prakash Singh | 2018 – |
| Mr. Satya Pal Jain | 8 April 2015 – 7 April 2018 |
| Ms. Maninder Acharya |
Former Solicitors General
The former Solicitors General for India were as follows:| Solicitor General | Term | Prime Ministers |
| C.K.Daphtary | 28 January 1950 – 1 March 1963 | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| H.N. Sanyal | 2 March 1963 – 9 September 1964 | Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| S.V. Gupta | 10 September 1964 – 16 September 1967 | Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi |
| Niren De | 30 September 1967 – 30 October 1968 | Indira Gandhi |
| Jagadish Swarup | 5 June 1969 – 4 June 1972 | Indira Gandhi |
| L.N. Sinha | 17 July 1972 – 5 April 1977 | Indira Gandhi |
| S.N. Kacker | 5 April 1977 – 2 August 1979 | Morarji Desai |
| Soli Sorabjee | 9 August 1979 – 25 January 1980 | Charan Singh |
| K. Parasaran | 6 March 1980 – 8 August 1983 | Indira Gandhi |
| Milon K. Banerji | 4 April 1986 – 3 April 1989 | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Ashok Desai | 18 December 1989 – 2 December 1990 | VP Singh |
| A.D. Giri | 4 December 1990 – 1 December 1991 | Chandra Shekhar |
| Dipankar P. Gupta | 9 April 1992 – 10 April 1997 | PV Narasimha Rao, HD Deve Gowda |
| T R Andhyarujina | 11 April 1997 – 4 April 1998 | Inder Kumar Gujral |
| Nitte Santhosh Hegde | 10 April 1998 – 7 January 1999 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Harish Salve | 1 November 1999 – 3 November 2002 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Kirit Raval | 4 November 2002 – 19 April 2004 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| G. E. Vahanvati | 20 June 2004 – 7 June 2009 | Manmohan Singh |
| Gopal Subramaniam | 15 June 2009 – 14 July 2011 | Manmohan Singh |
| Rohinton Nariman | 23 July 2011 – 4 February 2013 | Manmohan Singh |
| Mohan Parasaran | 15 February 2013 – 26 May 2014 | Manmohan Singh |
| Ranjit Kumar | 07 June 2014 - 20 October 2017 | Narendra Modi |
| Tushar Mehta | 10 October 2018 - incumbent | Narendra Modi |