Mumbai: Eight more names were cleared as judges for the Bombay High Court on Wednesday. They include Sunil Kotwal, Principal District and Sessions Court Judge, Thane, Arun Upadhye, Principal District and Sessions Judge, Sangli, Mangesh Patil, Registrar General of High Court, Arun Dhavale, District and Sessions Court Judge, Nashik, and City Civil Court Judge, Prithviraj Chavan, District Judge, Mumbai, Gondia Murlidhar Giratkar, Principal District Judge, Wardha Vibha Kankanwadi, Principal District and Sessions Judge, and Sopan Gavhane, District Judge, Thane.
Talking to The Hindu, Mr. Patil said, “I have been notified for elevation to the Bench.”
Six names were announced last week. The notification published in the gazette of the Ministry of Law and Justice read, “They have been appointed for a period of two years with effect from the date they assume charge.” President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to all 14 of them. These judges will join the HC when it reopens on June 5.
Last week, advocate General Rohit Deo, government pleader Bharti Dangre, Supreme Court lawyer Manish Pitale, public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde, advocate Riyaz Chagla, who is the grandson of the first Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, M.C. Chagla, and advocate Sarang Kotwal, were asked to stop practice.
With the announcement of these appointments, the HC will now have 75 judges and is only short of 19 as per the sanctioned strength of 94.