Mumbai: The President of India on Tuesday issued a notification transferring Bombay High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya as the Chief Justice of Delhi HC. A notification was also issued transferring CJ of Telangana HC, Alok Aradhe, as CJ of Bombay HC. On January 7, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the transfers.
CJ Upadhyaya during his tenure here passed several orders for improving the quality of life in the maximum city, be it taking suo motu cognisance of increasing air pollution in the city or reviving the suo motu plea against potholes in the city.
The bench led by CJ had also cracked whip on illegal hoardings defacing the city and state. It recently issued notices to political parties in the state asking why contempt action. Should not be initiated against them for failing to abide by the undertakings given to court that they will not put up illegal hoardings, banners and posters .
Just last week, the bench led by CJ took suo motu cognisance of dwindling wetlands in the state. Last year, the CJ-led bench upheld the contract awarded to Adani Realty for Dharavi Redevelopment Projwct while dismissing the plea by Dubai based Seclink Technologies Corporation.
Since several years, the high court had been asking the state government for a larger plot of land to construct a new building for the HC. Following stern several direction form the CJ Upadhyaya led bench, the govt allotted over 4 acres of plot of land at Bandra Kurla Complex for new high court building. The groundbreaking ceremony for the same was held in September last year.
A three-judge bench led by CJ Upadhyaya was in the midst of hearing a batch of petitions challenging the 10% reservation granted to the Maratha community.
CJ Upadhyaya, who hails from the Allahabad HC, was appointed as Bombay HC CJ on July 24, 2023. He succeeded CJ RD Dhanuka, who retired on May 30, after a brief tenure of four days.
The Bombay HC is currently functioning with 64 judges: 54 permanent judges and 10 additional judges. Justice Aradhe was appointed as an additional judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2009, and as a permanent judge in 2011.
He was transferred to the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir in 2016 and served as its Acting Chief Justice for 3 months in 2018. After that, he took oath as a judge of the Karnataka High Court on November 17, 2018 and served as Acting Chief Justice for a few months in 2022. In July 2023, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court.
