Three judges get elevated to chief justices of high courts

Three judges were on Wednesday elevated as chief justices of the high courts of Meghalaya, Karnataka and Orissa. While Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, a judge of the Allahabad high court, has been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya high court; Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, who was the acting chief justice of the Karnataka high court, was appointed as the Chief Justice of that high court. Justice Vineet Saran, a judge at the Karnataka high court has been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Orissa high court, the Law Ministry said in a statement.

While the Meghalaya high court was functioning with acting chief justices since January, the Karnataka high court was performing with an acting chief since late last year. Earlier this month, Orissa high court Chief Justice DH Waghela was transferred to the Bombay high court.

On February 3, Justice Ramayyagari Subhash Reddy was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, the first such appointment to the higher judiciary in the last ten months.

Justice Reddy, a judge of the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana high court, was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat high court, becoming the first judge to be elevated as chief justice of a high court since April 13 last when the government had brought into force the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act which had overturned the collegium system of appointing judges.