The Office of the Advocate General The office of the Advocate General is a constitutional office created under Article 165 of the Constitution of India. The authority and the functions of the Advocate General are specified in the Constitution of India under Article 165 & 177. Article 165. Advocate General for the State (1) The Governor of each State shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed a Judge of a High Court to be Advocate General for the State (2) It shall be the duty of the Advocate General to give advice to the Government of 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 (3) The Advocate General shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor, and shall receive such remuneration as the Governor may determine. In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) and (3) of Article 165 of the Constitution, the Governor had framed the Rules Regulating the Conditions of Service, Duties, Remuneration, etc. of the Advocate General and Additional Advocate General, Kerala*, issued in Notification No.LD(A) 1-3006/56/Law, dated 1st November, 1956. Article 177. Rights of Ministers and Advocate General as respects the Houses.- Every Minister and the Advocate General for a State shall have the right to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of, the Legislative Assembly of the State or, in the case of a State having a Legislative Council, both Houses, and to speak in, and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of, any committee of the Legislature of which he may be named a member, but shall not, by virtue of this article, be entitled to vote. The Law (Inspection) Department of Law Department is attending the works relating to the administration of the office of the Advocate General. The functioning of the Advocate General’s office The main duty of Advocate General is to provide advice to Government in legal matter. The Advocate General’s office consists of the Advocate General, Additional Advocates General, Public Prosecutor, Additional Public Prosecutors, Special Government Pleaders, Senior Government Pleaders, Government Pleaders, State Attorney, Indexer of Judgments, Administrator General and Official Trustee, Standing Counsel in the Supreme Court and Secretary to Advocate General, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Under Secretaties, Section Officers and other ministerial staff known as the members of the staff. The main functions of the staff in the office are to process case files, collect records from various Departments of Government, make available law books, statutes etc., and assist the Advocate General and the Law Officers in the conduct of cases- Civil, Criminal, Original and Appellate jurisdiction before the High Court of Kerala, the Supreme Court of India and other courts, in which the State is a party. The works to be performed by the Law Officers and the staff attached to the Office of the Advocate General are broadly divided into two wings, namely the Administrative Wing and the Legal Wing. The matters related to the administrative proceedings and Rules are dealt with Administrative Wing and matters related with General cases, legal proceedings and Rules are dealt with Legal Wing. As per G.O(Rt) No. 845/11/Law dated 22/09/2011, a branch of the Office of the Advocate General is established at Thiruvananthapuram for conducting the case before the Kerala Administrative Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram. |
· The Office of the Advocate General of Kerala is at Ernakulam. · The present Advocate General of Kerala is Sri. K. Gopalakrishna Kurup Office- New High Court Complex Tel: 0484- 2564300, 2394505 Fax: 0484- 2396399 Additional Advocate General |