BENGALURU: A senior judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, was appointed as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on Saturday. The Law and Justice Ministry issued a notification on the appointment after the President gave his assent.
Justice Awasthi, born on July 3, 1960, completed his graduation in law from Lucknow University in 1986. He enrolled as an advocate in 1987 and practised in civil, service and education matters at the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court.
He worked as the Assistant Solicitor General of India at Lucknow before his elevation as an additional judge in 2009. He became a permanent judge in 2010. The acting chief justice of Karnataka High Court, Justice Satish Chandra, has now been appointed as the chief justice of Telangana High Court.
Another senior judge from Karnataka High Court, Justice Aravind Kumar, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court. With this, two prominent judges from the Karnataka High Court have been elevated as Chief Justices.
In his around 10-month tenure, the division bench headed by Justice Sharma passed some prominent orders. It ruled that planting of trees on barren government land is not a crime, while dismissing a PIL filed against the ‘Cauvery Calling’ project.
It said that there is a statutory or constitutional bar on a minor being initiated into sanyasa, while rejecting a PIL filed against the anointment of a minor as Seer of Shirur Mutt in Udupi.
Judge passed many orders in Covid cases
Justice Aravind Kumar was part of the Special Division Bench headed by then Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka which dealt with various issues that arose due to Covid, like the allotment of beds, oxygen supply, vaccine supply, awarding of compensation to victims of oxygen tragedy in Chamarajanagar.
As the executive chairman of Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, Justice Kumar, through Lok Adalat, created a national record disposing of the highest number of cases and awarding compensation. After the transfer of these judges, the working strength of the Karnataka High Court will be 44, as against the sanctioned strength of 62. One more judge, Justice Ravi Malimath from Karnataka and serving as a judge of Himachal Pradesh, has been appointed as the Chief Justice of MP High Court.