The government of Punjab on Saturday appointed Anmol Rattan Sidhu, a senior advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as the new Advocate General of the state.
In an interview with India Today, Mr Anmol said, he would take just Re 1 as legal fees and not burden the state expenses while working in tandem with the government and handling cases with complete transparency.
The decision comes after the Aam Admi Party (AAP) government was elected to power in Punjab and Bhagwant Mann took office as the chief minister.
During his long and meritorious career as an advocate, Anmol Rattan Sidhu has handled extremely sensitive government and private matters in constitutional, criminal, civil, service and land matters before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh.
Anmol is a recipient of the Parman Patra, Punjab’s highest civilian honour, for exceptional social service.
Here's all you need to know about Anmol Rattan Sidhu:
Born on May 1, 1958 (Labour Day) in a family of a farmer, Anmol Rattan Sidhu studied at a village school before shifting to Chandigarh in 1975 and enrolling at Government College, Sector-11.
After completing his schooling, he pursued law from Panjab University. In his early college days, Sidhu remained a socio-political student and held the post of president of the Student Council of Panjab University from 1981 to 1982.
He entered the legal profession in 1985, and later in 1993, joined as Deputy Advocate General, Punjab till 2005, then as Additional Advocate General (Punjab & Haryana) handling various pivotal state matters.
He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 2007, and later served as the Assistant Solicitor General of India from 2008 till 2014. He also remained as a special public prosecutor for the CBI in the Punjab and Haryana High Court during this tenure.
From 1997 onwards, Sidhu was elected as a member of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana for five consecutive terms, before being elevated as chairman of the apex regulating body of lawyers in 2001-02.
While practicing in the high court, he remained the president of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association for eight times, the first person to be elected these many times in any High Court in the country.
He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Law at Panjab University in 2003-04.
