Rajasthan High Court Clears AAG Appointment of SC Judge’s Son, Says Experience Not Mandatory

The Rajasthan High Court in Sunil Samdaria v State of Rajasthan and Anr has upheld the appointment of advocate Padmesh Mishra as an Additional Advocate General (AAG) for representing the State before the Supreme Court. A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Baljinder Singh Sandhu held that the appointment was lawful and that a writ of quo warranto cannot be issued against appointments of government counsel.

Mishra, appointed on August 23, 2024, is the son of sitting Supreme Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. His appointment was questioned by advocate Sunil Samdaria, who argued that Mishra did not fulfil the requirement of 10 years of practice under the Rajasthan State Litigation Policy, 2018, since he was enrolled only in 2019.

Earlier, a single judge had dismissed the petition, noting that the Litigation Policy was only a guidance document, not a statutory rule. The Court held that the 10-year experience clause was not mandatory and that the State Cabinet was empowered to introduce Clause 14.8, which allowed appointment based on expertise rather than years of practice.

Upholding this view, the division bench reiterated that the State has full discretion in choosing its counsel and that courts cannot question why a particular advocate is selected. It also observed that advocacy is an art, and the number of years in practice does not automatically determine a lawyer’s ability to present a case.

The Bench also noted that if the State wanted the Litigation Policy to operate as a binding rule, it could have framed rules under Article 209 of the Constitution, which it had not done. The Court therefore concluded that the appointment of Padmesh Mishra was neither arbitrary nor illegal.

The appeal was dismissed.

Advocate Sunil Samdaria appeared in person. The State was represented by Additional Advocate General Vigyan Shah and a team of lawyers, while Senior Advocate Gagan Gupta and advocate Shashwat Purohit appeared for Mishra.