Aman Lekhi

Aman Lekhi is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India^[1] and is the Additional Solicitor General of India in the Apex Court.^[2] He is named in the list of Top 100 Legal Luminaries of India by LexisNexis in May 2016.

He practices in the Supreme Court of India. He also appears regularly in various courts and Tribunals^[3] and is also actively involved in several arbitrations.

Personal life

He graduated with distinction in Political Science (Honours) from Hindu College, University of Delhi and received a Degree in law with first division from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi. He is married to lawyer and BJP Member of Parliament from New Delhi Constituency, Meenakshi Lekhi.^[4]

Notable cases

The senior advocate's practice covers several legal disciplines. Apart from appearing in the Indian coal allocation scam case,^[5] 2G spectrum case^[6] and Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam case;^[7] he appeared for Ashis Nandy in a case that involved controversy regarding the latter’s alleged anti-Dalit remarks at the Jaipur Literature Festival, 2013.^[8] He has argued the case under Right to Information Act, 2005 against Union Public Service Commission of India with regard to Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2006 subsequent to which UPSC had to change the pattern of examination itself.^[9] As a lawyer, he has argued several matters relating to telecom sector involving the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)^[10] wherein also, he has achieved notable success. He was the lawyer for Farida Dar "Behenji" in Lajpat Nagar Blast Case^[11] and for Nazir Ahmed Qasid and Farooq Ahmed Qasid^[12] in the case concerning the 2000 terrorist attack on Red Fort.

Aman also appears for Zee network in the cases involving Naveen Jindal.^[13]

He also appeared for Nirmaljeet Singh Narula (Nirmal Baba).^[14] He was also the lawyer in Shanti Mukund case^[15] and also the case settling the law of medical negligence dealing with the duties and ethics of medical profession.^[16]

He has also appeared in the case concerning recommendations by Justice Majithia with regard to working journalists and non-journalists newspaper and news agency employees and the challenge to Working Journalists Act of 1955.^[17] Aman Lekhi is also the lawyer for AIADMK (Amma) leader TTV Dhinakaran. He appeared for Dhinakaran in the petition for bail which was allowed by the Special Court on 29 May 2017.^[18]

He also appeared for Colonel Dinesh Pathania^[19] in Machil Encounter, known as Machil killings, which, in 2010, had triggered a cycle of violence in Kashmir. Intelligence agencies had claimed the violence was part of Pakistani covert operations. Lekhi successfully argued before the Armed Forces Tribunal for release of the army personnel on bail after they had been court-martialled in the only proceeding instituted by the army against its own personnel.

On 26 September 2017, he appeared on behalf of former Tehelka Chief Tarun Tejpal in front of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court. He was successful in obtaining relief for his client with the Court directing a stay on the trial.^[20]

Presence in media

He appears frequently in various national news channels^[21] including CNBC TV18.^[22] and Bloomberg.^[23] Upon invitation, Aman is a regular contributor to the Opinion section on BloombergQuint, writing on constitutional and commercial law issues.^[24]

He is invited to lecture on issues of legal and public importance whether it is the hanging of Afzal Guru^[25] or the control of Hindu temples^[26] or the question of philosophy or ideology like Mao.^[27]

References