The Central government on Thursday appointed Senior Advocate Devang Girish Vyas as Additional Solicitor General of India of the Bombay High Court for a period of 6 months or till a regular ASG is appointed.

Vyas is already an ASG at the Gujarat High Court.

His appointment as ASG of Bombay High Court came about after incumbent ASG Anil C Singh's 9-year-long tenure came to an end on June 30. Singh chose not to apply for an extension.

Singh was appointed as the ASG on July 9, 2014 and has a record of holding the office in the Bombay High Court for the longest duration.

A designated senior advocate since September 2012, Singh will return to private practice, sources claimed.

They also claimed that Singh will continue to appear for the government in matters when called upon as special counsel.

Singh had also taken additional charge of the Advocate General of Maharashtra from June 11, 2015 to June 30, 2015.

Singh was later re-notified as the ASG from July 7, 2017 which was extended again in 2020.

In his long tenure, Singh appeared in the criminal cases arising from trials of the Malegaon bomb blast of 2008 and the Bhima Koregaon riot case of 2018.

He also appeared in an array of cases for central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate involving political persons like Nationalist Congress Party members Anil Deshmukh, Nawab Malik and Uddhav Thackeray faction Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.

Singh also appeared for the central agency Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in drug cases against actress Rhea Chakraborty and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan.

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