The AG's office has written to some secretaries whose ministries had approached him directly seeking his legal opinion on various issues.
Venugopal's office has also said that a brief summary of the case should be mentioned while seeking opinion, the functionary said.
His predecessor Mukul Rohatgi, on the contrary, was of the view that departments should be allowed to approach him directly for legal opinions as routing requests through the law ministry takes time.
Rule 8(e) of the Law Officers (Condition of Services) Rules, 1972 provides that unless a reference is received from the Law Ministry, no advice will be given to any ministry or department.
Rohatgi was of the view that the rule runs contrary to Article 76 of the Constitution which states that it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to give advice to the Government of India upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the president.
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