Centre notifies appointment of justice Devendra Upadhyaya as chief justice of Bombay HC

Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya has been appointed as the new chief justice of Bombay High Court, while Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur has been appointed as the chief justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.

MUMBAI: The central government on Monday notified the appointment of justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya as the new chief justice of Bombay high court.

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Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur of the Bombay high court has been elevated to the post of chief justice of Andhra Pradesh high court.

Union minister of state (independent charge) for law Arjun Ram Meghwal posted the central ministry’s decision on Twitter on Monday evening, around 15 days after the Supreme Court collegium recommended the elevation of justice Upadhyaya, a judge of Allahabad high court, as CJ of the Bombay high court on July 6.

The collegium had also recommended the elevation of justice Thakur, sitting judge of the Bombay HC, since his transfer in June last year from the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh high court.

Born on June 16, 1965, justice Upadhyaya graduated in law from Lucknow University in 1991 and enrolled as an advocate on May 11, 1991. He took up Civil and Constitutional cases at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court and was elevated as additional judge on November 21, 2011. He was made permanent judge on August 6, 2013.

In its resolution, the collegium had stated that as justice Upadhyaya was serving as a sitting judge of the Allahabad HC since his elevation 11 years ago he had acquired experience for dispensing justice in the largest high court, which has a total strength of 160 judges in the country.

The resolution further stated that justice Upadhyaya was fit and suitable for elevation and his elevation would give Allahabad HC adequate representation among the chief justices of high courts in the country.

Currently, the Bombay HC, which has a sanctioned strength of 94 judges, is functioning with 66 judges, including 40 permanent and 26 additional judges.

Justice Nitin Jamdar, the senior most judge of the Bombay HC, had been serving as the acting chief justice since the retirement of chief justice R D Dhanuka in May after holding the post for three days.