Sitting AG quits; Raman succeeds

CHENNAI: Senior advocate Pattabhi Sundar Raman will return as the Advocate General (AG) after R Shunmugasundaram resigned from the post citing personal reasons. This is Raman’s second stint in the post after being the AG during the last DMK regime headed by late chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Though the formal order is yet to be issued, sources said the decision was taken after Shunmugasundaram communicated the decision to quit the post to CM Stalin. It is said that he would return to private practice after the resignation is formally accepted.

“I thank CM Stalin for reposing faith in me. I deem it a great honour to serve TN government once again,” PS Raman told DT Next.

Raman is a second-generation lawyer from a family that has long association with DMK. He is the younger son of late VP Raman, former Advocate General and Additional Solicitor General of India. Senior Raman had framed DMK constitution along with EVK Sampath and Era Sezhiyan. 

The Government Order appointing PS Raman as the next Advocate General will be issued after receiving the formal consent from the Raj Bhavan for the appointment, sources said.

Raman started legal practice in 1985 after obtaining his degree from Madras Law College. In September 2004, Raman was designated as a senior advocate of the MHC. After DMK returned to power in 2006, he was appointed as the Additional Advocate General. Later in July 2009, he was appointed as Advocate General of the state. As the state’s top lawyer, he has appeared in several significant cases. After regime change in 2011, he tendered his resignation.

Respecting the legacy of the family, the government had recently named a part of Avvai Shanmugam Salai after PS Raman’s father, late VP Raman.

Meanwhile, senior counsel R Shunmugasundaram is returning to private practice after serving as the Advocate General since 2021. He was a public prosecutor since 1989, and served as the state public prosecutor from June 1996 to May 2001.

He was designated as a senior advocate in 2000 by the MHC and headed the Madras Bar Association from 2015 to 2017. The DMK fielded him in the Rajya Sabha elections in 2002.

The legal fraternity here still remembers the deadly attack against him on May 30, 1995, while he was preparing to appear in a corruption case against the late CM J Jayalalithaa.