Justice Pankaj Mithal Appointed 40th Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court | 15 Oct 2022

Why In News?

• On October 14, 2022, the Governor of Rajasthan, Kalraj Mishra administered the oath of office to Justice Pankaj Mithal as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court at the Raj Bhavan. Justice Mithal is the 40th Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.

Key Points

• Justice Pankaj Mithal took oath in Hindi language. Earlier, Justice Pankaj Mithal was the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Courts.
• Justice Pankaj Mithal's tenure will be around 8 months. He will be the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court till June 16, 2023.
• Justice Pankaj Mithal was born on June 17, 1961, in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. In 1982, he graduated from Allahabad University and in 1985, he did an LLB course from a college in Meerut affiliated to Chaudhary Charan Singh University.
• He started practice in the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council. On July 7, 2006, he was appointed as a judge in the Allahabad High Court for the first time. Appointed Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court in the year 2021.
• This is the third time in the Rajasthan High Court that a judge of the Allahabad High Court has taken over as the Chief Justice. For the first time in the year 1949, Justice K.K. Verma was appointed to this post. Verma, who was the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, became the first Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court. He held this post from 29 August 1950 to 24 January 1950. After this, on January 26, 1950, after the constitution came into force in the country, Kailash Nath was appointed as the Chief Justice.
• It is to be noted that Justice SS Shinde, the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court had retired on August 1, 2022, since then Justice M.M Srivastava was handling the job.
• The Supreme Court Collegium, chaired by Chief Justice of India (CJI) U.U Lalit in the last week of September 2022, recommended the transfer of Justice Pankaj Mithal from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to the Rajasthan High Court. After this, on October 11, the Union Law Ministry issued an order to transfer Justice Pankaj Mithal to the Rajasthan High Court.