Bengaluru:  The Karnataka High Court has designated 18 lawyers as Senior Advocates. Among them is Ajjikuttira S. Ponnanna, who is currently serving as the First Grade Additional Advocate General. An Advocate General is a legal advisor to a State Government.

This is Karnataka High Court’s first instance of application of the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court in Indira Jaising’s case regarding designation of senior advocates. Out of the list, Ponnanna and Sandesh J. Chouta are currently Additional Advocate Generals.

Ponnanna climbed through the ranks of State Government’s legal team in a relatively short span of time. He was appointed as Additional Advocate General in the previous Congress Government headed by Siddharamaiah. He continued in the post even after the new coalition Government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy came to power. In August this year, he was appointed as First Grade Additional Advocate General.

Other advocates in the list are: K. Arun Kumar, G. Shivadass, Gurudas Kannur, Gurumath Gangadhar Rudramuni Sharma, Hasmath Pasha, Jayna Kothari, K.N. Phanindra, Kuloor Arvind Kamath, Lakshmi Iyengar, M. Nagaprasanna, R.V. Prasad, R.V. Subramanya Naik, A. Shankar, S. Susheela, V. Srinivasa Raghavan and T.S. Amar Kumar.

Settled in Bengaluru, Ponnanna hails from Bellur village near Hudikeri in South Kodagu. He is the fourth son of legal luminary and former MLC A.K. Subbaiah and late Daty Ponnamma.