Justice Dipankar Dutta. (Source: Calcutta High Court website)
The Centre issued a notification Thursday declaring that President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Calcutta High Court judge Justice Dipankar Dutta as the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court. Justice Dutta is the second senior-most judge at the Calcutta High Court.
The Bombay HC Chief Justice Bhushan P Dharmadhikari, who was sworn in on March 20, will serve a short tenure as he is due to retire on April 27.
Justice Dharmadhikari was appointed as acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court on February 24 due to former CJ Pradeep Nandrajog’s retirement. Justice Dharmadhikari, who has served as a Bombay High Court judge for nearly 16 years, will attain his retirement age of 62 on April 28.
Justice Dutta was born in February 1965 to former judge of the Calcutta High Court, late Justice Salil Kumar Datta. Justice Dipankar Datta obtained his LLB degree from the University of Calcutta in 1989. He enrolled as an advocate the same year and practiced in the Supreme Court and High Courts dealing with Constitutional and civil cases.
Justice Dutta has served as the junior standing counsel for the State of West Bengal between May 2002 and January 2004, and as a counsel for the Central Government since 1998. He was elevated as a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court on June 22, 2006.