Haryana AG Baldev Raj Mahajan offers to resign
Haryana advocate general (AG) Baldev Raj Mahajan, 70, a senior advocate, was appointed in November 2014, when Manohar Lal Khattar took over as the chief minister after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state for the first time
Haryana advocate general (AG) Baldev Raj Mahajan is learnt to have conveyed to the state government to relieve him from the post.
Mahajan, 70, a senior advocate, was appointed in November 2014, when Manohar Lal Khattar took over as the chief minister after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state for the first time. Considered close to the former CM, he continued for a decade without any break.
Soft-spoken Mahajan is credited with running the office with 200-odd law officers in Chandigarh and Delhi “smoothly and without any controversy”. Coming from a humble background in Amritsar, Mahajan remained associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad, a body of right-wing lawyers, due to which he came in contact with the former CM and was eventually appointed as the top law officer of the state.
It is learnt he has cited “personal reasons” behind the move and is learnt to have been told by the government to continue till a replacement is found.
“He had conveyed to the government six months back as well, when Khattar resigned and Nayab Singh Saini was made the chief minister. However, he was persuaded to continue till the elections. He has again conveyed to the government to look for a new AG,” a senior functionary of the AG office said. Mahajan, when contacted neither confirmed nor denied.
Names of at least four lawyers are doing rounds in legal circles as his replacement. These include former assistant advocate general, Government of India, Chetan Mittal, senior advocate VK Jindal, and two law officers in the team of Mahajan-- senior additional advocates general, Pritam Singh Saini and Pravindra Singh. Singh also served as member, Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission between 2018 and 2023.