Upset since appointment of Rohinton Nariman as the solicitor general of India last July from outside the hierarchy, Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran has turned down the government's offer to renew his contract.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid is understood to have insisted that he continue, but Parasaran has excused himself, saying he wants to be free for a global assignment.
He is the senior-most among the three additional solicitors, two others being Indira Jaising and Vivek Tanka, and as such he was expecting the government elevate him to the chair of Gopal Subramanium, who resigned in protest of a tiff with the then Law Minister M Veerappa Moily.
Subramanium had put in his papers on the day the government decided to engage Rohinton to argue against a petition questioning an order of Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal reportedly favouring Reliance Communications. Sibal sought Rohinton as special counsel to argue his case, since he has experience in corporate cases, and he succeeded.
