Para 31 — CSMOP
Original Rule Text
31. References to the Attorney-General of India - References to the AttorneyGeneral shall be made by the Ministry of Law and Justice.
What This Means
Para 31 is a short but significant rule about the protocol for references to the Attorney General of India (AG). The AG is the senior-most law officer of the Government of India, and their opinion on complex constitutional or legal matters is highly authoritative. Because of the AG's stature and the significance of a reference to them, individual ministries and departments cannot directly approach the AG for advice.
All references to the Attorney General must be routed through and made by the Ministry of Law and Justice. In other words, if a ministry has a complex legal question that it believes warrants the AG's opinion, it must first refer the matter to the Ministry of Law and Justice, which then decides whether to involve the AG and frames the reference appropriately.
This rule centralises access to the AG to prevent uncoordinated or contradictory references from multiple ministries, and ensures that only genuinely complex or significant legal matters are taken to the AG rather than routine legal questions.
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.
Key Points
- 1No ministry or department can directly refer matters to the Attorney General of India.
- 2All references to the AG must be made by or through the Ministry of Law and Justice.
- 3Ministries seeking the AG's opinion must first refer the matter to the Law Ministry.
- 4The Law Ministry decides whether to involve the AG and frames the reference.
- 5This centralisation prevents multiple, uncoordinated references to the AG from different ministries.
Practical Example
The Ministry of Environment has a complex question about whether a new environmental regulation requires a Constitutional amendment or can be made by ordinary legislation. Rather than approaching the AG directly, the Ministry of Environment sends a note to the Ministry of Law and Justice setting out the legal question. The Law Ministry examines it. If the Law Ministry believes the matter warrants the AG's opinion, they frame a proper reference to the AG. The AG's opinion comes back to the Law Ministry, which then communicates it to the Ministry of Environment.
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.
Frequently Asked Questions
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This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.