Allahabad HC Notifies Fresh Roster Across Multiple Benches; Justice Sreedharan To Now Hear Family Appeals, Senior Citizen Act Matters

The Allahabad High Court last week notified a new Constitution of Benches/roster, which came into effect today. The administrative order passed on March 19 under the orders of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali has made significant changes across multiple divisions and Single Judge Benches. The notification supersedes the previous roster, which had been in effect since January 5, 2026. In the newly notified roster, Justice Atul Sreedharan will sit with Justice Vivek Saran to hear Family Court Appeals from the year 2021 onwards, along with matters pertaining to the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act. His bench has also been assigned Writ C petitions relating to political pensions, the Human Rights Act, 1993, and the U.P. Cooperative Societies Act. As per the previous notification, the division bench led by him was dealing with matters pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights and residuary civil writs/matters not mentioned in the Code Book. Several of his orders (read here, here, here and here) were widely discussed in recent weeks, particularly those pertaining to religious freedom and critically examining state actions. Now, the residuary civil writs/matters not mentioned in the Code Book will be heard by a bench of Justice Saral Srivastava and Justice Garima Prashad. The portfolio now assigned to Justice Sreedharan was previously handled by the Division Bench of Justice Arindam Sinha. As per the fresh roster, Justice Sinha's bench has been reallocated to hear Writ A matters regarding Transport and all service matters, as well as Writ C petitions concerning Mines and Minerals. Apart from that, Justice Prakash Padia's roster has been entirely overhauled. He was previously dealing with U.P.Z.A. & L.R. Act and Revenue Code matters, but now he will hear Government Service writs from the year 2024. As per the newly notified roster, several benches have retained their roster. For example, the roster of Bench comprising Chief Justice and Justice Kshitij Shailendra remains unchanged. This bench will continue to hear Public Interest Litigation (Civil), Commercial Appellate Division appeals, and matters pertaining to the Armed Forces and Central Administrative Tribunals. Similarly, the bench of Justice MC Tripathi and Justice Kunal Ravi Singh will continue hearing Land Acquisition and Environment matters. Justice SD Singh will continue hearing Custom, Excise & Tax matters and Special Appeals arising out of service matters. However, he will now sit with Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi. Justice Siddhartha Varma will continue to lead the Division Bench hearing Supreme Court expedited Criminal Appeals from 2023, as well as Criminal contempt and sexual offence appeals (excluding MP/MLA cases). He will now sit with Justice Jai Krishna Upadhyay. Justice Salil Kumar Rai will also continue hearing Supreme Court expedited Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2014 and associated government appeals. He will now sit with Justice Devendra Singh-I, replacing Justice Dr Ajay Kumar-II. The notification has also reiterated its directives for listing specific case categories for priority hearing. These include: Criminal appeals of convicts in custody for more than seven years. Cases related to Acid Attacks. All Supreme Court expedited matters. Cases involving murder, rape, dacoity, and kidnapping. Habeas Corpus Writs and revisions under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.

Allahabad HC Notifies Fresh Roster Across Multiple Benches; Justice Sreedharan To Now Hear Family Appeals, Senior Citizen Act Matters

Sparsh Upadhyay

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