Darius Khambata, the additional solicitor general (ASG) is now the newMaharashtra advocate general (AG). The state cabinet on Monday approved Khambata as the state’s top law officer, two months after Ravi Kadam resigned from the post.

The legal fraternity welcomed Khambata’s appointment , which comes three days before his 51st birthday. Goolam Vahanvati, the attorney general for India and who was the Maharashtra advocate general in the early 2000, said, "It is an excellent choice. The Centre’s loss is the state’s gain."

Khambata, a Harvard Law alumnus, prefers to keep a low profile. He is the member of the London court of international arbritation. As the top law officer for the central government in Mumbai, he appeared in all leading matters including the Adarsh scam, Lavasa, for the CBI and ED. He is well known in the law corridors for his "formidable reputation for the most painstaking preparation of his matters," as the Bombay Bar Association had said on his appointment as the ASG in July 2009.

Kadam, Khambata’s predecessor , said "CM Prithviraj Chavan has chosen a man of proven competence." He will "make one of the finest AGs we have seen in a long time," said a senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas . A reluctant Khambata smiled and declined to comment on his shift from the ASG’s office to the AG’s , on the same floor in the Bombay HC premises.