NEW DELHI/HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court collegium on Tuesday recommended the appointment of the Chief Justices of Telangana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gauhati High Courts. The collegium also recommended the transfer of the existing Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, as Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.
The vacant slot of Chief Justice of Telangana High Court that is likely to be created with the transfer of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, as per collegium recommendation, will be filled up by the elevation of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. At present, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan is a judge of the Telangana High Court. Justice Ujjal Bhuyan originally belongs to the Gauhati High Court.
Justice Sharma took oath as the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court on October 11, 2021. He hails from Madhya Pradesh. He got three gold medals during his law degree course. Justice Sharma is an avid reader and contributed his services to several national law universities. At the young age of 42, he was designated as the senior advocate at the High Court of Madhya Pradesh and was elevated as judge in 2008. Later, he was transferred to the Karnataka High Court and then appointed as Chief Justice of Telangana High Court.
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan took oath as the judge of the Telangana High Court on October 22, 2021, after he was transferred from Bombay High Court. He was transferred to Bombay High Court from Gauhati High Court in 2019. At that time, his transfer sparked protests at Gauhati High Court, on the ground that he would be in the 15th place in seniority list of judges in the Bombay High Court, whereas he was the third most senior judge in Gauhati High Court.
Justice Bhuyan obtained LLB degree from the Government Law College, Guwahati, and LLM from Gauhati University. He enrolled at the bar in 1991 and practiced before the principal seat of the Gauhati High Court and appeared before the Agartala, Shillong, Kohima and Itanagar benches of the Gauhati High Court. He also practiced before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Guwahati bench, and the Assam Board of Revenue.
He was the standing counsel of the Income-Tax department for 16 years, starting as junior standing counsel in May 1995 before being appointed as senior standing counsel in 2008. He was the additional government advocate, Meghalaya, in the principal seat of the Gauhati High Court from April 2002 to October 2006.
He was designated senior advocate in 2010 by the Gauhati High Court and was appointed additional advocate general of Assam ion 2011. He was elevated as additional judge of Gauhati High Court on October 17, 2011 and was made permanent judge on March 20, 2013.
Other judges recommended for elevation and appointment as Chief Justice include – Justice Vipin Sanghi, Justice Amjad A. Sayed, Justice S.S. Shinde, Justice Rashmin M. Chhaya, as Chief Justices of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gauhati High Courts respectively.
At present Justice Vipin Sanghi is serving as judge of Delhi High Court, Justice Amjad A. Sayed and Justice S.S. Shinde are judges of Bombay High Court, and Justice Rashmin M. Chhaya is a judge of Gujarat High Court.
Justice Shinde will be the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court for just two months as he will retire on August 1, 2022, when he turns 62. He had joined the judiciary in the Bombay High Court in March 2008. He did his LL. B from Marathwada University in Aurangabad and LL.M from Pune University and Warwick University, UK. He started practice in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court in November 1989.
