Two new judges of the Gujarat High Court took oath of office at an official ceremony organised in the high court campus on Tuesday. The judges—BD Karia and Sangeeta Vishen—were administered the oath by Acting Chief Justice AS Dave, in the presence of other high court judges, advocates, senior government officials, and law minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.
The elevation is being seen as a much-required respite for the high court administration which is reeling under an acute shortage of judges amidst rising pendency of cases. Notably, around 1.14 lakh cases are pending in the high court.
Following the appointments, the total number of judges in the high court has increased to 29 as against the sanctioned strength of 52. Interestingly, Karia and Vishen were recommended for judgeship by the Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on December 5, along with the names of judicial officer Vishnukumar Patel and advocate Megha Jani. The collegium had also directed the Centre to expeditiously process the recommendations.
However, except for Patel, who was elevated as a high court judge in January, the Centre took over two-and-a-half months to process the names of Karia and Vishen. Surprisingly, in the meantime, advocate Megha Jani withdrew her consent for being elevated as a judge.