Vijay Narayan earns rare distinction of being Advocate General under two different governments

The Tamil Nadu government led by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) appointed senior counsel Vijay Narayan as its Advocate General. With this, he earns the rare professional distinction of having served as the A-G of the State for the second time under two different governments.

Mr. Narayan had served as the top most law officer of the State for the first time during the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime between August 2017 and May 2021. After a gap of five years of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam rule, he has returned to the office once again.

The new A-G is the nephew of former Attorney General K.K. Venugopal and grandson of M.K. Nambyar, a legendary lawyer acclaimed for his contribution towards development of constitutional law in the country. He had completed his graduation from Loyola College in 1977 and obtained a law degree from the Madras Law College in 1982.

His maternal grandfather Sardar K.M. Panikkar was an eminent historian, journalist and a statesman besides having been Indian ambassador to China, France and Egypt; he was also the vice chancellor of universities of Kashmir and Mysuru. Mr. Panikkar was also one of the three members of the States Reorganisation Commission in 1953.

Mr. Narayan had argued a wide variety of cases including those on service law, labour law, constitutional law, administrative law and commercial law. In consideration of his long standing practice in the Bar, the Madras High Court had designated him as a Senior Advocate in 2004.

He had conducted cases in the Supreme Court as well as several other High Courts. He was also the former president of Madras Bar Association (MBA), an 161-year-old association of lawyers. After Mr. Narayan had resigned his post in May 2021, he was succeeded by senior counsel R. Shunmugasundaram and P.S. Raman.

Mr. Raman had put in his papers on Tuesday (May 12, 2025) immediately after returning from a family holiday in Colombo, and Mr. Narayan too cut short his visit to Portugal and returned to the country on Wednesday to accept the post of the Advocate General for the second time.