Kolkata, May 29: Senior lawyer Surajit Nath Mitra has been appointed as the new Advocate General of West Bengal. He succeeds Kishore Dutta, who resigned on May 5, just a day after the results of the recent West Bengal Assembly elections were announced.
Mitra has over four decades of experience in legal practice, specializing in civil and commercial law. The West Bengal Judicial Department issued a notification confirming his appointment.
According to the notification released by the Principal Secretary of the state judicial department, the Governor has appointed Surajit Nath Mitra as the Advocate General of West Bengal, exercising the powers conferred by Article 165(1) of the Constitution of India.
Kishore Dutta, Mitra’s predecessor, had a tumultuous tenure as Advocate General during most of the Trinamool Congress’s rule. He was appointed Advocate General of West Bengal twice during the party’s 15 years in power, starting in 2011.
Dutta, a close confidant of outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, resigned due to the weakening of the state government following violence after the 2021 Assembly elections. Soumenranath Mukherjee then took over the role of Advocate General.
However, Mukherjee unexpectedly resigned in November 2023, leading to Dutta’s reappointment as Advocate General for the second time. Dutta’s resignation on May 5 coincided with a request from lawyers of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s legal cell to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, urging a stay on decisions and orders related to the state until the formation of a new state cabinet.
Shortly after, it was confirmed that Dutta had resigned from the position of Advocate General of West Bengal.
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