CUTTACK: Justice Jaswant Singh and Justice Arindam Sinha were sworn in as the judges of the Orissa High Court on Friday.The two judges, who were transferred from the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and Calcutta High Court respectively were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Chief Justice S Muralidhar in a ceremony on the High Court premises.
Justice Singh was elevated from the Bar as judge of High Court of Punjab and Haryana on December 5, 2007. Justice Sinha was also elevated from the Bar as judge of Calcutta High Court on October 30, 2013.
With this, the number of judges in the Orissa High Court - which had gone down to 12 due to the transfer of Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra to Uttarakhand High Court - went up to 14 against a sanctioned strength of 27.
The number of judges is expected to increase to 19 as the Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, has recommended four names for elevation as judges of the Orissa High Court, for clearance by the Centre.The Supreme Court collegium in its meeting on September 29, approved the proposal for elevation of two lawyers Aditya Kumar Mohapatra and Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo and two judicial officers Radha Krishna Pattanaik, and Sashikanta Mishra.
While Radha Krishna Pattanaik is currently Secretary of State Law department, Sashikanta Mishra is District Judge, Ganjam. Aditya Kumar Mohapatra is a High Court lawyer and Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo is additional government lawyer in the High Court.