Rohinton Fali Nariman
Rohinton Nariman was appointed the Solicitor General of India on 23rd July 2011.[1] .He replaced Gopal Subramaniam who resigned from the post on 14 July,2011[2]He is a lawyer and he was made a Senior Counsel by Mr. M.N. Venkatachalaiah (the then Chief Justice of India )[1].While doing so Mr. Venkatachalaiah had to amend rules as Mr. Nariman was of 37 years and the minimum age to become one was 45.
Biography
He is the son of Fali Sam Nariman[3], a distinguished Indian constitutional Jurist. Rohinton Nariman was of 55 years of age when he was appointed the Solicitor General of India[3]
Novartis Patent Case Controversy
In a patent case of Novartis regarding the anti-cancer drug Glivec Mr. Nariman was representing the company whereas the previous solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam was representing the Government of India.After the solicitor general resigned from the post the Indian government appointed Rohinton Nariman as the new Solicitor General of India whereas Gopal Subramaniam was represented by Novartis. They thus switched positions much to the anger of the activists who termed it as a serious case of conflict of interest.Mr. Nariman took over as Solicitor General of India in July and Mr. Subramaniam took up the Novartis case in August.[4]