Centre appoints four Chief Justices
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 12: Union Law Ministry today issued notification for appointment of four Judges as Chief Justices of High Court including that of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
As per the notification, Justice N Kotiswar Singh, Judge, Gauhati High Court has been made Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh while as Justice Sandeep Mehta, Judge, Rajasthan High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court.
Justice Sonia Giridhar Gokani, the senior-most Judge of the Gujarat High Court, was appointed its Chief Justice while Justice Jaswant Singh senior-most Judge of Orissa High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.
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On December 13, EXCELSIOR had exclusively reported that the Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the elevation of Justice N Kotiswar Singh of Gauhati High Court as Chief Justice of High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Justice Kotiswar Singh is presently serving as a Judge at the Gauhati High Court. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 2008 and served as the Advocate General of the State of Manipur from November 2007 till his elevation to the Bench in October 2011. He was appointed as a Judge of the Gauhati High Court in November 2012.
He was appointed as a Judge of the Manipur High Court upon its creation with effect from 23rd March, 2013. Later on, in 2017 he was appointed to perform the duties of the office of Chief Justice of the High Court of Manipur.
On transfer to Gauhati High Court, Justice Kotiswar assumed charge as a Judge, Gauhati High Court on 11.10.2018. Presently, he is Executive Chairman of the Assam State Legal Services Authority, Central Authority member of National Legal Services Authority and a member of the Governing Body of National Judicial Academy, Bhopal
He served as the Acting Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court w.e.f. 21.09.2020 to 09.01.2021 and from 09.05.2022 to 22.06.2022.
“Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha is likely to administer oath to newly appointed Chief Justice on Wednesday”, official sources said.
Justice Sonia Giridhar Gokani, senior most Judge of Gujarat High Court and Justice Jaswant Singh, senior-most Judge of Orissa High Court will also retire later this month.
Justice Sonia Giridhar Gokani is presently the senior-most Judge of the Gujarat High Court and once she takes oath as Chief Justice, she will be the only woman Chief Justice of a High Court. At present India has 25 High Courts.
Another woman Judge, Justice Sabina, is functioning as the acting Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
However, Justice Gokani will demit office on February 25 upon attaining the age of 62. She has been drawn from the judicial service of Gujarat. “Besides being the senior-most Judge, the appointment of Justice Gokani as Chief Justice will bring a sense of inclusion and facilitate a representation for judges drawn from the services in the office of Chief Justice,” the Supreme Court Collegium had said last week while recommending her name.
The Collegium had asked the Government to “immediately” appoint her as the Chief Justice following the elevation of Justice Aravind Kumar, the High Court Chief Justice till now, as a Judge of the Supreme Court. He was elevated to the top court on Friday.
Justice Jaswant Singh, the senior-most Judge of the Orissa High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court. Justice Singh is due to retire on February 22.
The office of the Tripura High Court Chief Justice has been lying vacant for some time following retirement of Justice Indrajit Mahanty.
The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the elevation of Justice Singh as head of the Tripura High Court on January 25.
The Collegium had earlier recommended that Justice Singh be appointed as Chief Justice of the Orissa Hight Court. The recommendation was recalled later and his name was proposed as head of the Tripura High Court.
While Supreme Court Judges retire at 65, High Court Judges demit office on attaining the age of 62 years.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju had tweeted to announce the fresh appointments.
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