Senior-Most High Court Judges Have Constitutional Right To Be Appointed As Chief Justices, Transfer Policy Can't Ignore Seniority: Ex-CJI GB Patnaik

Former CJI Justice Gopala Ballav Patnaik has opined that the senior-most Judge of every High Court has a constitutional right to be appointed as Chief Justice of a High Court. He said that merely because of introduction of the transfer policy, the appointing authorities must not ignore seniority of Judges.“How is it possible that more than two or three Judges from the same High Court are Chief Justices of different High Courts and several High Court including Orissa [High Court] going without a Chief Justice. I myself became a Chief Justice only after four years when there was no Chief Justice from this Court,” he added.On Saturday, Justice Patnaik was speaking at the felicitation ceremony of the former Chief Justices and Judges of the Orissa High Court as a part of its 75th year anniversary celebration. The event was attended by a number of dignitaries including Justice BR Gavai, Judge, Supreme Court and Justice Dipak Misra, former CJI.Expressing deep anguish over inadequate representation of the Orissa High Court in the matters of appointment of Chief Justices of High Courts and Judges of the Supreme Court, Justice Patnaik said,“People at the helm of affairs, be it executive government prior to the second judges case or be it the collegium subsequent to the second judges case, whosoever has been the appointing authority, Orissa High Court is being ignored in the matter of appointment of Chief Justices and in the matter of elevation to the Supreme Court.” Further, he said,“There is a convention and I hope the convention still continues that as far as possible, each High Court must be represented in the Supreme Court. When in 2001, three of us from this High Court [himself, Justice Deba Priya Mohapatra and Justice Arijit Pasayat] with a Judge strength of 12 could be elevated to the Supreme Court, how is it that for last more than four years, there is none from this Court in the Supreme Court?”Pertinent to note that the Orissa High Court has remained unrepresented in the Supreme Court since the retirement of the 45th CJI Justice Dipak Misra in October, 2018. Raising another important issue, Justice Patnaik said that when he was a Judge of the Orissa High Court, there was only a single woman Judge, i.e. Justice Amiya Kumari Padhi. Also, today when the strength of Judges has doubled in the High Court, yet there is only a single woman Judge (Justice Savitri Ratho). He urged that the number of lady Judges must increase.

Senior-Most High Court Judges Have Constitutional Right To Be Appointed As Chief Justices, Transfer Policy Can't Ignore Seniority: Ex-CJI GB Patnaik

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