Centre appoints 5 additional judges at Bombay high court
The Law Ministry elevated 5 advocates as additional judges of the Bombay High Court for 2 years, enhancing gender and community representation.
MUMBAI: The Ministry of Law and Justice on Wednesday notified the elevation of 5 advocates as additional judges of the Bombay high court. The additional judges will serve for an initial term of 2 years from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.
Nivedita Mehta, Prafulla Khubalkar, Ashwin Bhobe, Rohit Joshi, and Advait Sethna have been elevated as additional judges of the high court by the President of India.
The Supreme Court collegium had earlier recommended their names for elevation earlier in September. Nivedita Mehta’s name was recommended for her extensive practice of 31 years in civil, constitutional, local, municipal, labour, and criminal laws. “She represented the Government of Maharashtra at Nagpur Bench in the capacity of Assistant Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor from 2013 to 2023 and has been representing the State government as an Additional Government Pleader and Additional Public Prosecutor since October 2023,” noted the recommendation. The collegium noted that her elevation would fulfil the need to ensure gender diversity among the high court judges.
Prafulla Khubalkar, with more than 27 years of experience at the Bar in civil, constitutional, service and arbitration cases, will also facilitate greater representation to the Other Backward Classes in appointments to the higher judiciary.
The recommendation also noted Rohit Joshi’s performance, which has been personally observed by justice B R Gavai during his tenure as high court Judge, while sitting at the Bench at Nagpur. Advait Sethna’s extensive practice is reflected in his professional income annual income and 84 reported judgments delivered in the cases he appeared in. Ashwin Bhobe was noted for delivering 45 reported judgments.