Maninderjit Singh Bedi is new Punjab advocate general

The Punjab government on Sunday appointed Maninderjit Singh Bedi as the new advocate general.

Bedi’s appointment comes a day after Gurminder Singh resigned from the AG’s post. Bedi is the fourth AG in Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government’s three- year tenure. Bedi was currently an additional advocate general with Punjab AG office and hails from Bathinda. He is a law graduate from Punjabi University, Patiala.

Upon taking charge, Bedi said his priority would be to effectively represent the state in legal matters to protect Punjab’s rights and interests.

The government has also extended tenure of 215 law officers till April 30, who had resigned as part of ‘rationalisation exercise’ initiated by the state government in February. Senior advocate Anu Chatrath has been appointed as senior additional advocate general at Punjab AG office.

Gurminder Singh has not spelled out reasons for his resignations. “As I intend to resume my private practice, I am not inclined to continue on the post,” his resignation read. However, people in the know of the matter said the move was part of “image makeover” drive in the backdrop of AAP’s debacle in Delhi assembly polls.

The government’s functioning has also come under severe criticism at various legal forums in recent past including in SC, where a bench had said last week in a pension non- disbursal case that “state had taken the court for a ride”. This was the another reason being cited for growing discomfort between the AG and the government.

The first one to resign was AG Anmol Rattan Sidhu in July 2022. He was replaced by senior advocate Vinod Ghai, who also tendered resignation in October 2023, following which Gurminder Singh was appointed.