Nagpur: The Union ministry of law and justice on Wednesday released a list of 14 additional judges who would be joining the Bombay High Court (HC) and its benches in Nagpur, Aurangabad and Goa.
These judges, including advocate general Rohit Deo and government pleader at Nagpur bench Bharti Dangre, would be sworn in shortly, most likely on Friday or next week.
The notification issued by joint secretary Rajinder Kashyap was expected after all probable candidates, including Deo and Dangre, were told to stop practice immediately by the judiciary.
The appointments were made by President Pranab Mukherjee under Article 224 of the Constitution of India. All these 14 candidates would join as additional judges based on their seniority for two years from the date they assume charge.
Besides Deo and Dangre, Manish Pitale, a lawyer practicing at the Supreme Court and Prithviraj Chavan, who was working as principal judge at Pune, hail from Nagpur.
Others in the list included solicitor general Sandeep Shinde, Sarang Vijaykumar, Riyaz Chagla, Sunil Kotwal, Arun Upadhye, registrar Mangesh Patil, Arun Dhavale, Murlidhar Giratkar, Vibha Kankanwadi, and Sopan Gavhane. With Dangre’s appointment, the HC would have 12 woman judges, the highest for any state.
The lawyers’ fraternity hailed their appointments stating that they deserved the position based on their hard work and vast experience. They speculated that the name of Ashutosh Kumbhkoni was doing the rounds for AG’s post and Sumant Deopujari’s for the government pleader’s post in city.
