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R Venkataramani Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More

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Hometown: Pondicherry
Age: 72 Years
Wife: Vijayalakshmi Venkataramani

R Venkatramani

Bio/Wiki
Full nameVenkataramani Rajagopalan [1]R Venkataramani- Facebook
ProfessionLawyer
Famous forBeing the fifteenth Attorney General of India
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)in centimeters- 170 cm
in meters- 1.70 m
in feet & inches- 5’ 7”
Eye ColourBrown
Hair ColourSalt & Pepper
Personal Life
Date of Birth13 April 1950 (Thursday)
Age (as of 2022)72 Years
BirthplacePondicherry (now Puducherry), India
Zodiac signAries
NationalityIndian
HometownPondicherry, India
Relationships & More
Marital StatusMarried
Family
Wife/SpouseVijayalakshmi Venkataramani
R Venkatramani with his wife and son
ChildrenSon- Anandh Venkataramani (Law Professional)
R Venkatramani's son

R Venkatramani

Some Lesser Known Facts About R Venkataramani

  • R Venkatramani is an Indian advocate, who has been practising as a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India for around 42 years. He is the fifteenth Attorney General of India.
  • Venkatramani grew up in a middle-class family in Pondicherry.
  • He was a student of the Late Prof. Madhava Menon at Government Law College, Pondicherry.
  • Venkatramani got enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in July 1977. Subsequently, he began practising as a lawyer at the Madras High Court.
  • After spending two years at the Madras High Court, Venkatramani moved to the Supreme Court of India. There, he joined the chambers of Late PP Rao, senior advocate, Supreme Court.
  • After a few years, Venkatramani set up his independent practice in the Supreme Court and was designated as a senior advocate by the apex court in 1997.
  • In the same year, he was designated as the chairman of the Independent Monitoring Panel. Constituted by the World Bank, the Government of India, and the National Thermal Power Corporation, the panel was formed to observe and provide guidance on the rehabilitation of people displaced by the NTPC projects in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
  • He served as the special senior counsel for various central government departments in High Courts and Supreme Court from 2004 to 2010.
  • Venkatramani also served as the counsel of the Supreme Court in various matters relating to the service conditions of the Supreme Court employees.
  • Holding a specialisation in various branches of law including prominent constitutional law, the law of indirect taxes, human rights law, civil and criminal law, consumer law, and the law relating to services, Venkatramani has fought many legal battles in High Courts and Supreme Court on behalf of the central government, various state governments, universities, and public sector undertakings.
  • Venkatramani, for many years, has been an active member of several commissions in India including the Law Commission of India, Equal Opportunity Commission, and Constitution Review Commission. He was appointed as a member of the Law Commission of India (for a period of three years) first in 2010 and then again in 2013. He was a part of the panel that framed a report on setting up the Equal Opportunities Commission.
  • As a member of the Law Commission of India, Venkatramani worked as the Senior Advocate for the Government of India in the Supreme Court.
  • He was once appointed as a co-opted member of the Ministry of Minority Affairs’ expert group. The group was formed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs to examine and determine the structure and functions of an equal opportunity commission.
  • Venkatramani has also been involved in the Constitution Review Commission’s work under the chairmanship of M. N. Venkatachaliah.
  • He has a lifetime membership of several Lawyer’s Associations in India.
  • Over the years, he has formed associations with many renowned academic institutions in India including the National Law School of India University, Bangalore (associated since 1988), The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun, and Lloyd Law College, Greater Noida.

    R Venkatramani delivering a lecture on advocacy and professional ethics

    R Venkatramani delivering a lecture on advocacy and professional ethics

  • He has helped in framing several legal education programmes for young lawyers and law teachers at National Law School, Bangalore, and Commonwealth Legal Education Association and has worked extensively to ameliorate legal education.

    R Venkatramani addressing the Law students

    R Venkatramani addressing the Law students

  • He has also served as a resource person at the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal.
  • Venkataramani, as a member of the South Asian Task Force on Judiciary (consisting of Members of SAARC Nations), has worked on reports on the conditions of the Judiciary, reforms in Institutional structures, and conditions of service.
  • He represented India as a speaker at a workshop on the Optional Protocol to the International Covenants on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 1966, organised jointly by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva from 4 March to 6 March 2001.
  • He has also been involved in the activities of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Afro-Asian region, especially concerning the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
  • In May 2022, he attended an International Conference held in Berlin and following that drafted an Instrument on the Right to Food in association with the International Working Group.

    R Venkatramani attending a Law Conference

    R Venkatramani attending a Law Conference

  • In 2008, Venkataramani was a part of the Nepalese Constitution drafting and experience-sharing exercise.
  • Some of his publications include:
    • Co-authored a book on ‘Land Reforms’ in the Tamil language in 1975
    • Authored a book titled Judgements of Justice O. ChinnappaReddy (former justice of the Supreme Court) which was published by the International Institute of Human Rights Society
    • Authored a volume on ‘Torts’ in the series of Halsbury’s Laws of India, published by Butterworths
    • Wrote several articles on Constitutional Law mainly related to liberty, human rights and the role of law, and legal education and environmental law
    • Contributed to the annual review of the Indian Law Institute (ILI), New Delhi
    • Co-authored Restatement of Indian Law: Public Interest Litigation sponsored by the Committee on Restatement of Laws – Joint Committee of the Supreme Court of India and the Indian Law Institute
  • Reading and writing poetry are Venkatramani’s favourite pastimes.
  • On 23 July 2019, the Supreme Court in its judgement related to the Amrapali case, appointed R. Venkataramani as the Court Receiver. The court said,

    We appoint Shri R. Venkataramani, learned Senior Advocate, as the Court Receiver. The right of the lessee shall vest in the Court Receiver and he shall execute through an authorized person on his behalf, the tripartite agreement and do all other acts as may be necessary and also to ensure that title is passed on to home buyers and possession is handed over to them.”

  • Amid the 2022 Karnataka Hijab Row case in the Supreme Court of India, R. Venkataramani, while defending the Hijab ban on behalf of two school teachers said that different spaces in the community required public order.
  • On 28 October 2022, R Venkatramani was appointed as the fifteenth Attorney General of India (for a period of three years) by the President of India Droupadi Murmu. Succeeding K K Venugopal, Venkatramani took charge of the office with effect from 1 October 2022. After being appointed as the attorney General of India, Venkatramani, expressed his gratitude towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju through a video message. He said,

    I am deeply grateful to all these people who have made this possible for me. There are many of them. And I must also thank the Honourable Prime Minister, Home Minister and Law Minister for placing confidence in me to take up this very sensitive assignment. And I only wish and pray that given the assistance I have been bestowed with by all my friends, I will be in a position to discharge this responsibility without fear or favour and without ill-will and to the best of my abilities.”

    R Venkatramani's appointment letter as the Attroney General of India

    R Venkatramani’s appointment letter as the Attroney General of India

  • In the same year, he was awarded a SKOCH India Law Award for his commendable service to Law.

    R Venkatramani receiving SKOCH India Law Award

    R Venkatramani receiving SKOCH India Law Award

  • Reportedly, the post of Attorney General of India was first offered to Mukul Rohatgi, who did not take up the post citing personal issues. Later, R. Venkataramani was chosen for the post.

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