Who appoints the Advocate General for the state ?

Article 165 of the Constitution of India establishes the office of the Advocate General for each State — the State's chief law officer. The article provides that the Governor of the State appoints the Advocate General, who must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court, and holds office during the pleasure of the Governor.

Applying this provision to the question: the appointing authority named in Article 165(1) is the Governor, so that is the office being asked about here.

Cross-checking against the other offices named in the options confirms none of them carries this appointing power:

• Chief Justice of High Court — heads the administration of the High Court and exercises judicial and administrative authority over that court and its staff, but holds no constitutional power to appoint the State's law officer.

• Leader of Opposition — is the recognised head of the principal opposition party in the Legislative Assembly and takes part in certain statutory committees, but has no appointing power over any State legal office.

• Speaker — presides over the Legislative Assembly, regulates its proceedings and decides certain procedural and disqualification matters, but is not vested with any appointing power over the Advocate General or other executive law officers.

As an independent check, the Union-level parallel confirms the same pattern: Article 76 of the Constitution provides that the Attorney General of India, the Union's chief law officer, is appointed by the President of India. Since the President is the head of the Union executive and appoints the Union's law officer, the analogous head of the State executive — the Governor — is the one who appoints the State's law officer, the Advocate General.