The Central Government on Sunday notified appointments of five new Chief Justices to various High Courts including two judges from the Bombay High Court.
Justice Amjad Sayed and Justice SS Shinde of the Bombay HC have been elevated as the Chief Justices of the Himachal Pradesh And Rajasthan respectively.
This will bring down the strength of the Bombay HC from 57 to 55. The HC has been functioning with lesser strength than the sanctioned strength of 94 judges. Further, by the end of 2022, five more judges would retire. Last week, justice Sadhana Jadhav retired. Justice Jadhav, in November last, had commuted the death sentence of three convicts in the Shakti Mills gang rape case to life imprisonment observing, “The accused do not deserve any leniency, empathy or sympathy. Every day the rising sun would remind them of the barbaric acts committed by them and the night would lay them with a heavy heart filled with guilt and remorse.”
Justice Shinde has presided over various high-profile cases in the recent past including the abetment to suicide case against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, Bhima Koregaon-Elgar Parishad case, cases against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and actress Kangana Ranaut.
The division bench headed by justice Shinde sat till 8.30 pm on 9 June 2022, hearing various criminal cases. It heard over 215 out of the 265 cases listed before it. On the same bench on 8 June 2022 heard 190 cases.
Justice Sayed, born on January 21, 1961, obtained a Bachelors in Law from Bombay University in the year 1984. He has appeared in Public Interest Litigation matters relating to mangroves, garbage dumping, free/concessional medical treatment for the poor in charitable hospitals, biomedical waste, and malnutrition, amongst others on behalf of the Union of India/State Government. He is a keen sports enthusiast.
Justice Shinde, born on August 2, 1960, completed his LL.B. Course at Marathwada University at Aurangabad. After obtaining LL.M Degrees from Pune University and from Warwick University, United Kingdom, he enrolled as an advocate of the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa in April 1987. He was elevated as an Additional Judge of the High court of Bombay on March 17, 2008, and confirmed as Permanent Judge.
The other judges to be elevated are Justice Vipin Sangh from Delhi HC to Uttarakhand HC and Justice Rashmin M Chhaya from Gujarat HC to Gauhati HC.
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan , who is justice at Telangana HC is elevated as the Chief Justice of the Telangana HC. justice Bhuyan was transferred to Telangana from Bombay HC in October last year.
