Justice Ramayyagari Subhash Reddy was on Wednesday elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court while 12 additional judges of the Allahabad High Court were made as permanent judges.
Justice Reddy, a judge of the Andhra Pradesh/Telangana High Court, has been elevated as the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office, a Law Ministry statement said.
He has become the first judge to be elevated as Chief Justice of a High Court since April 13, 2015 when the government had brought into force the >National Judicial Appointments Commission Act , which had overturned the collegium system of appointing judges.
“ >Collegium recommendations for Chief Justices of Rajasthan, Patna, Gauhati, Meghalaya and Karnataka High Courts are under process. The notification is likely soon,” said a senior government official.
Twelve additional judges of the Allahabad High Court were elevated as permanent judges based on the recommendation of the collegium.
They are Justices Vivek Kumar Birla, Attau Rahman Masoodi, Ashwani Kumar Mishra, Rajan Roy, Ranjana Pandya, Vijay Lakshmi, Arvind Kumar Mishra-I, Anant Kumar, Harsh Kumar, Shashi Kant, Om Prakash-VII and Yashwant Varma.
Meanwhile, Justice Pradipkumar Premshanker Bhatt, a judge of the Jharkhand High Court, has been transferred to the Gujarat High Court and directed to assume charge of his office on or before February 13.
Justice Jayant Maganlal Patel, a judge of the Gujarat High Court, has been transferred to the Karnataka High Court and directed to assume charge on or before February 13.
Justice Bela Madhurya Trivedi, a Rajasthan High Court judge, has been transferred to the Gujarat High Court and has been asked to assume charge of her office on or before February 12, the Ministry said.
According to the latest data compiled by the Law Ministry, out of the approved strength of 1,044 judges in the 24 high courts, there are 443 vacancies.
In other words, the high courts were functioning with 601 judges as on January one.
The apex court, which has an approved strength of 31 judges, has five vacancies.
