Justice Maheshchandra Tripathi has been appointed the new Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, while the court’s acting Chief Justice, Justice Ravindra Ghuge, has been appointed Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, according to a report by Loksatta – Mumbai.
The appointments were approved by the President late on Saturday following recommendations by the Supreme Court collegium. Justice Tripathi is currently serving at the Allahabad High Court and is expected to become the 50th Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
Justice Ghuge has served at the Bombay High Court for nearly 13 years. He was appointed acting Chief Justice in June this year. His transfer will affect the constitution bench hearing the challenge to Maharashtra’s decision to provide 10% reservation to the Maratha community in government jobs and education.
The bench headed by Justice Ghuge has been hearing the matter regularly for about a year. Arguments by the petitioners and parties opposing the reservation have been completed, while Maharashtra’s Advocate General, Milind Sathe, was presenting the state government’s arguments, the report said.
With Justice Ghuge’s appointment to the Calcutta High Court, a new constitution bench will have to be formed for the reservation case. The matter will then have to be heard afresh before the newly constituted bench. The appointment therefore changes the judicial composition overseeing a case that has remained a major constitutional and administrative issue in Maharashtra.
Justice Tripathi is currently the second-most senior judge after the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and has handled the work of the court’s principal bench at Allahabad. He studied law at Lucknow University, enrolled as an advocate on January 11, 1992, and has primarily practised in civil cases. He also served as additional standing counsel for Uttar Pradesh from October 2007.
He was appointed an additional judge of the Allahabad High Court on September 27, 2013, and became a permanent judge on April 10, 2015. Justice Tripathi will take charge of the Bombay High Court after the formal completion of the appointment process. The reservation case will require the constitution of a new bench and a fresh hearing under the new court leadership.
