In 1993, In 1993, Mr. Subramanium was designated a Senior Advocate suo moto by the Supreme Court, making him one of the youngest in history to be so designated. He was appointed Additional Solicitor General of India in 2005 and went on to serve as Solicitor General of India between 2009 and 2011, also acting as Chairman of the Bar Council of India during the same period.
Mr. Subramanium has had a varied work experience. In 1991-1992, he acted as counsel to a Judicial Commission headed by Justice J.S. Verma, then a Judge of the Supreme Court, to inquire into security lapses leading to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Commission noted in its report:
“The Commission had apprised Mr. Subramanium that his role as counsel assisting the Commission was that of an Amicus Curiae to assist in ascertaining the truth and promoting the cause of justice, uninfluenced by any individual interest… The performance of this onerous duty by Mr. Subramanium was of the highest order to the extent that all other counsel in their concluding address made special mention of this fact and uniformly praised him for the dispassionate discharge of his duty.”
In 1993, Mr. Subramanium acted as prosecutor for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the trial of persons accused of setting-off a series of bomb blasts in Bombay. He acted as the CBI’s counsel in this matter till 2012 when appeals in this trial were heard by the Supreme Court. In 1994-1995, Gopal acted as a special commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court in Sheila Barse v. Union of India to investigate into allegations of wrongful detention of persons in mental hospitals in the state of Assam.
In 1999, he served as counsel to the Justice Wadhwa Commission of Inquiry which investigated the assassination of a missionary named Graham Staines. In 2001, he was appointed counsel to a Judicial Commission headed by Justice K. Venkataswami to inquire into sting operations carried out by a news publication to expose corruption in defense procurement transactions. Shortly thereafter, he acted as the Special Public Prosecutor in the prosecution of the accused in the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001.
Between 2005 and 2011, while he served as a senior law officer to the Government of India, Gopal represented the Union in a wide range of matters involving complex questions of constitutional and criminal law. He was the Special Public Prosecutor in the prosecution of Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist who carried out attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. He also argued this case before the Supreme Court.
Gopal Subramanium, one of the most talented jurists India has produced in recent years, was born in 1958 in Bangalore. He began legal practice in 1980 in the Supreme Court of India under the guidance of Soli J. Sorabjee, an eminent jurist and former Attorney General for India. His abilities were recognised early in his career. In 1988, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the case of Dhronamraju Satyanarayana v. N.T. Rama Raorecorded its appreciation in the following words: “It was a pleasure watching Mr. Subramanium assisting so ably the learned Attorney General of India...”
