President Pratibha Patil re-appointed Goolam E. Vahanvati Attorney-General for Two Year Term

President Pratibha Patil on 30 April 2012 re-appointed Goolam E. Vahanvati Attorney-General for two more years with effect from 8 June 2012. Vahanvati was appointed to the post of Attorney-General in 2009 for three years. His term was due to end on 8 June 2012.

Goolam E. Vahanvati is the first Muslim to hold the top law officer's post in the past six decades. He represented the government in such important matters as B.P. Singhal (the scope of doctrine of pleasure with respect to removal of Governors); the appointment of the Central Vigilance Commissioner, Lafarge (illegal mining); illegal mining in Karnataka; Right to Education; and the row over the date of birth of the Chief of the Army Staff.

He was appointed Solicitor-General in June 2004 and he practised mainly in the Supreme Court and the High Courts, representing the Union of India in important matters, including constitutional and revenue cases.

He was part of the Indian delegation to the 37th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to present India's second and third periodic reports as well as to respond to the issues raised by the Committee at the meeting held on 18 January 2007 in New York.

He also led the Indian delegation at the 70th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) — Consideration of the 15th-19th Periodic Reports of India  to respond to the issues relating to India at the meeting held in Geneva from 22 to 26 February 2007.

He had along with the former Chief Justice of India, P.N. Bhagwati, and the former Indian Ambassador to the U.S., N.A. Palkhiwala, given oral evidence as an expert in respect of Indian Law in the proceedings filed by Standard Chartered Bank against Citibank, New York.

He was honoured with several prestigious awards including the Sahyog Foundation Award for excellence in the legal field in April 2002, and the National Law Day Award, 2005.