A P Sahi new Chief Justice of Patna high court

PATNA: Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi of the Allahabad high court will be the Chief Justice of the Patna high court. Union ministry of law and justice issued a notification to this effect on Friday. His appointment would come into effect from the date of assuming office.

Sahi will succeed Justice M R Shah, who has recently been appointed as the Supreme Court judge. Shah served as Chief Justice of the Patna high court for two and a half months.

Sahi, who is the second senior most judge at the Allahabad high court, was appointed there as additional judge on September 24, 2004 and had become a permanent judge on August 18, 2005.

Presently, Justice Ravi Ranjan is the acting Chief Justice of the Patna high court. However, he, too, has been transferred to Punjab and Haryana high court. Justice Ranjan’s transfer notification was also issued by the ministry on Friday. He is to assume office on or before November 23.

According to the details available on the Supreme Court’s website, Justice Ravi had requested the collegium to either stay the proposal of his transfer or accommodate him in nearby high courts like Jharkhand or Allahabad, instead of the Punjab and Haryana high court. However, the collegium headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi did not accede to his request.

The Patna high court would now have 28 judges against the sanctioned strength of 53.