SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 14 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 1 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Read the below statement: 1. Solicitor General of India is appointed by the president of India. 2. A candidate contesting for the post of the President of India is required to make a security deposit of ₹15,000. Which of the above statements is/are correct?

(a)Only statement 1
(b)Only statement 2
(c)Both statements 1 and 2
(d)Neither statement 1 nor 2

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Statement 2 is right and statement 1 is not.

Section 5C of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 refuses a nomination unless the candidate deposits fifteen thousand rupees. A 1997 amendment raised it from ₹2,500.

Statement 1 fails. No Article of the Constitution creates the Solicitor General, and the appointment is made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). The officer the President appoints under Article 76(1) is the Attorney General.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Only statement 1 — Reverses the pair. Article 76(1) has the President appoint the Attorney General, not the Solicitor General, and the ₹15,000 deposit in statement 2 is correct.
(c)
Both statements 1 and 2 — Statement 2 is right, but statement 1 hands the Solicitor General the Attorney General's Article 76 appointment. The Constitution never mentions a Solicitor General.
(d)
Neither statement 1 nor 2 — Statement 2 is true: Section 5C fixes the deposit at ₹15,000, raised from ₹2,500 in 1997. Rejecting it discards the correct half.

Concept

The Attorney General is the Union law officer the Constitution creates. Article 76 has the President appoint a person qualified to be a Supreme Court judge, who holds office during the President's pleasure.

The Solicitor General and the Additional Solicitors General assist that office. Their posts are neither constitutional nor statutory, and their terms come from the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987.

A presidential candidate needs 50 proposers and 50 seconders plus the ₹15,000 deposit, which is forfeited if the candidate's votes do not exceed one-sixth of those needed to win.

Strictly, Article 77(1) says all executive action of the Government of India is expressed to be taken in the President's name.

Statement 1 is still false in the sense tested: the Constitution gives the President the Attorney General's appointment and says nothing of a Solicitor General.

Key facts

Section 5C of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Elections Act, 1952 sets the deposit at ₹15,000, substituted for ₹2,500 by Act 35 of 1997.
A presidential nomination needs at least 50 electors as proposers and 50 as seconders (Section 5B).
Under Article 76(1) the President appoints the Attorney General, who must be qualified to be a Supreme Court judge.
The Solicitor General's post is neither constitutional nor statutory, and its service conditions come from the Law Officers (Conditions of Service) Rules, 1987.

Study next

Article 88: the Attorney General's right to speak in Parliament without a voteArticle 165: the Advocate General of a StateArticles 54 and 55: the electoral college and the value of votes in the presidential election

Common traps

Giving the Solicitor General the Attorney General's Article 76 appointment.
Remembering the pre-1997 deposit of ₹2,500 instead of ₹15,000.

Law officers also appear at 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.12 (the Attorney General appointed in 2022) and 24 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.2 (a State's highest law officer). The election of the President is asked at 24 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Current events — all 156 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.