BENGALURU: For a long time, the Karnataka High Court had only one woman judge and their number saw a gradual rise only in recent years. With the appointment of Sushree Khazi Jayabunnisa Mohiuddin, the Karnataka High Court now has six women judges.
On Monday, the President appointed Rajendra Badamikar and Sushree Khazi Jayabunnisa Mohiuddin, as Additional Judges of the Karnataka High Court. A notification to this effect was issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, elevating the two judicial officers as judges.
Rajendra Badamikar is presently working as Registrar General whereas Jayabunnisa Mohiuddin is working as Registrar (Vigilance) at the Principal Bench of the High Court at Bengaluru. The Supreme Court Collegium, on February 4, approved the elevation of the two judicial officers as judges of the Karnataka High Court, along with a senior advocate.
New HC judges worked their way up the ladder
Rajendra Badamikar, who has been elevated as an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court, has worked in different capacities. In 1993, he was appointed as JMFC, Chikkodi, in Belagavi district and was promoted as Senior Civil Judge in 2002 and posted in Hanagal of Haveri district. He was later transferred to Bengaluru as Deputy Secretary, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and Member-Secretary of High Court Legal Services Authority, up to July 2009.
He was Additional District and Sessions Judge of the Lokayukta Court in Belagavi and Principal District and Sessions Judge in Kolar between 2015 and 2016. In September 2019, he joined as Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court and the next month, he was appointed as Registrar General. Born on June 1, 1962 to Muralidhar Balavant Rao Badamikar and Vijaya in Hubballi, Rajendra Badamikar completed his schooling in Bagalkot district and obtained a BSc Degree from Karnataka Science College in Dharwad.
He enrolled as advocate in 1987 and practiced civil and criminal law. Sushree Khazi Jayabunnisa Mohiuddin, is the sixth woman judge in the Karnataka High Court. As an advocate at Vijayapura and Bengaluru from 1988 to 1993, she practised both both civil and criminal laws. She was appointed as Civil Judge and JMFC in October 1993 and worked in Tumakuru, Kodagu, Mandya, Bengaluru and Bengaluru Rural district between 1993 and 2003.
She worked in the Senior Civil Judge cadre at Bengaluru and Sagar from 2003 to 2009 and in the cadre of District and Sessions Judge at Bengaluru and Tumakuru from 2009 to 2015. She served as Principal District and Sessions, Shivamogga, from 2015 to 2016 and Registrar (Administration) and Secretary to Chief Justice, Presiding Officer of Karnataka Wakf Tribunal, etc., from June 2016. Born to Rashida Begum and MA Kazi on October 8, 1963 in Indi of Vijayapura district, she studied BSc, LLM. She did her schooling in Badami, Gadag, Navalgund, Ballari and Mandya. She got her degree from DVS Science and Arts College in Shivamogga and and her LLB degree from National College of Law in Shivamogga and LLM from Kuvempu University (Distance Education).