Shortly after Siddaramaiah assumed office as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, K Shashi Kiran Shetty was appointed the new Advocate General of the state, replacing Prabhuling K Navadgi, who held the position during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. Shashi Kiran currently serves as the managing head at Shetty and Hegde Associates, a prominent law firm based in Bengaluru.
Born on September 13, 1975, Shashi Kiran completed his law degree from the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru in 1998. He has since built a strong reputation in the legal profession, practising as a lawyer in both the High Court and the Supreme Court. Recognising his expertise and experience, the High Court of Karnataka designated him a senior advocate in 2014. He is the son of Justice P Vishwanath Shetty, a former Karnataka Lokayukta and retired HC judge.
Throughout his career, Shashi Kiran has taken on various high-profile cases, representing numerous political leaders, educational institutions, multinational corporations, and other litigants. He has been involved in election petitions, issues pertaining to admissions and affiliations of deemed universities, and private medical and engineering colleges, and has argued before both the High Court and the Supreme Court.
One of his notable cases was representing the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and Siddaramaiah, the then leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, before the apex court in a case involving the disqualification of 14 MLAs in 2019. More recently, he championed the cause of a petitioner challenging the withdrawal of 4% reservations for Muslims in Karnataka, a decision made by the previous BJP government. Additionally, Shashi Kiran provided legal representation to the petitioners from Shivajinagar whose names were deleted from the final electoral list, though the High Court eventually dismissed the case.