CDS (I) 2023 General Knowledge · Question 92 of 120

Correct — A, The SGI is the Government's chief legal advisor. This is one of the two accepted answers. UPSC's key for this question marks it as a grace item and accepts both (a) and (c), because two of the four statements about the Solicitor General are genuinely untrue. Statement (a) is false because the chief legal adviser to the Government of India is the Attorney-General, not the Solicitor General: Article 76(2) lays it down as the Attorney-General's duty to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters as the President refers to him. Statement (c) is false because the post of Solicitor General appears nowhere in the Constitution. Article 76 creates the Attorney-General for India and Article 165 creates the Advocate-General of a State; the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General are creatures of executive arrangement, appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and governed by the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987. A candidate who marked either (a) or (c) received the mark.

• (a)The SGI is the Government’s chief legal advisor. — Not a wrong option — an accepted answer. Calling the Solicitor General the Government's chief legal adviser takes a title that belongs to the Attorney-General under Article 76, so this statement is indeed not correct and answers the stem.
• (b)The SGI is the secondary law officer of the country. — A true statement, so it cannot answer a stem that asks for the one which is not correct. The Solicitor General ranks second among the law officers of the Union, below the Attorney-General and above the Additional Solicitors General.
• (c)The post of the SGI is a constitutional post. — The other accepted answer, and the cleaner of the two. There is no constitutional post of Solicitor General; the Constitution names only the Attorney-General for India in Article 76 and the Advocate-General of a State in Article 165. The office is statutory and executive in character.
• (d)The SGI is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. — Also true, and therefore not an answer. The Solicitor General is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which is one of the plainest signals that the office is executive rather than constitutional.

The Union has a tier of law officers. The Attorney-General for India is the first law officer, created by Article 76, appointed by the President, required to be qualified for appointment as a Supreme Court judge, holding office during the President's pleasure, with a right of audience in all courts and, under Article 88, the right to speak in and take part in the proceedings of either House of Parliament and its committees without a vote. Below the Attorney-General come the Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General, who are not named in the Constitution at all and who are appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on the same footing as senior government counsel.

This is one of the very few UPSC items where two options are equally defensible and the Commission said so, awarding the mark for either. Both false statements come from the same mistake — treating the Solicitor General as though he were the Attorney-General. The two facts to hold are short. First, the Constitution names two law officers and only two, the Attorney-General for the Union in Article 76 and the Advocate-General for a State in Article 165; the Solicitor General appears in neither. Second, the advisory duty to the Government of India is written into Article 76(2) and is the Attorney-General's, which is what makes the phrase 'chief legal advisor' wrong when it is attached to anyone else. A related consequence worth carrying: because Article 88 speaks of the Attorney-General alone, it is the Attorney-General and not the Solicitor General who may participate in parliamentary proceedings.

• Article 76 creates the office of Attorney-General for India; Article 165 creates the Advocate-General of a State. The Solicitor General appears in neither.
• Article 76(2) makes it the Attorney-General's duty to advise the Government of India on legal matters referred by the President.
• The Solicitor General is the second law officer of the Union, ranking below the Attorney-General and above the Additional Solicitors General.
• The Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General are appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and are governed by the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987.
• Article 88 gives the Attorney-General the right to speak in and take part in the proceedings of either House and its committees, without a right to vote; it does not extend to the Solicitor General.

• Transferring the Attorney-General's constitutional attributes to the Solicitor General.
• Assuming that any office that sounds senior must be constitutional; the test is whether the Constitution names it.
• Extending the Article 88 right of participation in Parliament beyond the Attorney-General.

As a negative-stem item on the law officers, and often as a statements pair that mixes one Attorney-General fact with one Solicitor General fact.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution of India provides for the office of the Attorney-General for India?

  • (a)Article 74
  • (b)Article 76
  • (c)Article 88
  • (d)Article 165

  Answer(b) Article 76 — Article 165 is the State counterpart, creating the Advocate-General, and Article 88 concerns the right to speak in Parliament.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Solicitor General of India is appointed by

  • (a)the President of India
  • (b)the Chief Justice of India
  • (c)the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
  • (d)the Union Public Service Commission

  Answer(c) the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet — unlike the Attorney-General, who is appointed by the President under Article 76(1).