Advocate General of State: Article 165, List of Advocate Generals in India

Advocate General of State

The Advocate General of a State is a Constitutional post and authority duly appointed as per Article 165 of the constitution of India. The authority and function of the Advocate General are also specified in the Constitution of India under Articles 165 & 177.

The functions of the Advocate General of a State include:

• To provide legal assistance to the state government on topics addressed to or delegated to them by the Governor.
• To carry out any additional legal responsibilities the governor delegates or assigns.
• To perform the tasks the Constitution or any other law gives.

Advocate General of State: Term of Office

The Governor decides and appoints the state’s Advocate General. The person chosen for the position should be qualified to serve as a judge on a high court.

• The Advocate General of State does not have a fixed term in the Constitution. As a result, they serve at the whim of the state governor in question.
• The Governor has the authority to remove them at any time.
• There is no mechanism or basis for their removal in the Constitution.
• The state’s Advocate General is paid according to the Governor’s discretion.
• Their compensation is not specified in the Constitution either.

Rights of the Advocate General of State

The Advocate General of State enjoys and is entitled to the following rights:

• They have the right to attend any court in the State when performing their official duties.
• They can talk and participate in state legislature sessions but do not have the right to vote.
• They have all the rights and advantages of being a state legislature member.

List of Advocate Generals of India (State Wise)

Following is the list of Advocates General for different states in alphabetic order.

Indian State	Name of Advocate General of State
Andhra Pradesh	Subrahmanyam Sriram
Assam	Devajit Lon Saikia
Bihar	Lalit Kishore
Chhattisgarh	Satish Chandra Verma
Goa	Devidas Pangam
Gujarat	Kamal Trivedi
Haryana	BR Mahajan
Himachal Pradesh	Ashok Sharma
Jammu & Kashmir	D.C. Raina
Jharkhand	Rajiv Ranjan
Karnataka	Prabhuling K. Navadagi
Kerala	K Gopala Krishna Kurup
Madhya Pradesh	Prashant Singh
Maharashtra	Ashutosh Kumbhakoni
Manipur	Naorem Kumarjit Singh
Meghalaya	Amit Kumar
Mizoram	Diganta Das
Nagaland	Vikramjit Banerjee
Odisha	Ashok Parija
Punjab	Vinod Ghai
Rajasthan	Mahendra Singh Singhvi
Sikkim	Vivek Kohli
Tamil Nadu	R. Shunmugasundaram
Telangana	B. S. Prasad
Tripura	Siddhartha Shankar Dey
Uttar Pradesh	Ajay Kumar Mishra
Uttarakhand	S. N. Babulkar
West Bengal	S.N. Mookherjee

Advocate General of State: Eligibility

The Governor, with the assistance of other councils of ministers, appoints the state’s Advocate General. The following are the eligibility criteria for a person to hold the office of Advocate General in India:

Eligibility Criteria	Requirements
Citizenship	Indian
Judge of the High Court	To be appointed, he needs to fulfil any one of the below standards: He should be a lawyer having experience of more than 5 years. A civil servant with an experience of more than 10 years plus additional experience as a Zila Court servant for at least 3 years. An advocate over 10 years in any high court
Age	Should be less than 62 years of age

Advocate General Salary

The income of the Advocate General is not static by the Constitution of India, and it can deviate from one State to another. The State governor selects the remuneration of the advocate general in India.

Post	Earnings Estimated (Monthly)
Advocate General of State	Rs. 1.25 lakh
Senior Deputy Advocate General and Deputy Advocate General	Rs. 90000
Assistant Advocate General/Junior Most Law Officer	Rs. 55000
Establishment officers	Rs. 40000

Advocate General of State: Articles 165 and 177

Mentioned are the articles relating to the office of the Advocate General of State:

• Article 165: Office of the Attorney General of the State
• Article 177: Advocate General’s Rights concerning the State Legislature and Its Proceedings
• Article 194: Advocate General’s Powers, Privileges, and Immunities

The Advocate General of State has the legal right to attend any state court. Hence, being the protector of the states’ beliefs and virtues, the advocate general channels their powers to direct the same.

Article 165 of the Indian Constitution

The Advocate General shall hold office at the pleasure of the Governor. The OIC attending the Advocate General (A.G.) office must first contact the Deputy Secretary (Law) and thereafter the concerned Section Charge, depending upon the nature of the case and the purpose of his attending the office. On obtaining the file from the relevant Section, the OIC must appear before the concerned Law Officer to prepare the return.

After the return has been prepared and is duly complete with all legible documents and authorization, the OIC should submit the same to the Section Charge to file along with the case file before leaving the A.G. Office.

Article 165 of the Indian Constitution states that:

• The Governor of each State shall appoint a person qualified as a High Court Judge to be Advocate General for the State.
• It shall be the duty of the Advocate General to give advice to the state 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 Governor and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under this constitution or any other law for the time being in force.

Advocate General vs. Attorney General of India

The position of Attorney General for India is established by Article 76 of the Indian Constitution. He/she is the top law enforcement official in the nation. The office of the Advocate General for the states is established by Article 165 of the Indian Constitution. He or she is the state’s top law enforcement official.

To understand the fundamental differences between the Advocate General and the Attorney General of India, refer to the table below. Both are differentiated based on the Article of the Constitution, their position, and their roles.

Criteria	Advocate General of State	Attorney General of India
Article of Indian Constitution	Article 165	Article 76
Position	Chief law officer of the state	Highest law officer in India
Responsibility	Handles Legal matters of the state	Takes control over the lawful issues of the central government or the union

Advocate General of State UPSC

The topic of the Advocate General of State is covered under the Polity section of the UPSC Syllabus. To understand the topic better, aspirants can go through the NCERT Books for UPSC and practice the Previous Year’s Question Papers.

Question: Advocate General of State is appointed for:

1. 5 years
2. 6 years
3. Decided by the President
4. No fixed tenure

Answer: Option D

Question: Which article states that each state shall have an Advocate General?

1. Article 194
2. Article 177
3. Article 197
4. Article 165

Answer: Option D