Calcutta, Feb. 9: Senior advocate Kishore Dutta has been appointed the new advocate-general by the Bengal government.

Dutta replaced barrister Jayanta Mitra, who resigned on Tuesday citing "differences with the government". Jayanta Mitra was the third advocate-general after Anindya Mitra and Biplab Chatterjee to step down before the completion of their tenure since Trinamul came to power in 2011.

Dutta, 49, is the second advocate after Balai Ray to have been appointed advocate-general. All other advocates-general in Bengal were barristers.

Dutta was practising as a senior government lawyer and had represented the state in many important cases. He was the advocate-on-record in the case which Mamata Banerjee had filed as an Opposition leader in 1997 against the public accounts committee.

Dutta had earlier worked with senior advocate and Trinamul MP Kalyan Banerjee.

Kalyan Banerjee said: "Didi (Mamata) has selected Kishore to the post of advocate-general. He is a competent person and I am sure he will do well."