Centre notifies appointment of Justice Prasanna Varale of Bombay HC as Karnataka High Court Chief Justice

The Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India U U Lalit, in its September 30 meeting recommended Justice Varale’s elevation.

On Tuesday morning, Union Law minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted that as per Constitutional provisions, Justice Varale is appointed as Karnataka High Court Chief Justice.

As per the Constitutional provisions, Justice Pankaj Mittal is transferred to Rajasthan as Chief Justice of Rajasthan HC, Justice PB Varale is appointed as Chief Justice of Karnataka HC & Justice AM Magrey as Chief Justice of J&K & Ladakh HC.
I extend best wishes to all of them.

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) October 11, 2022

Three other senior judges of Bombay High Court were also recommended to be elevated as chief justices of other high courts or as a top court judge.

Born on June 23, 1962, at Nipani, Justice Varale graduated in Arts and Law from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Maratha University and enrolled as an advocate on August 12, 1985. He joined the Chamber of advocate S N Loya and practised civil and criminal law. He was also a lecturer at Ambedkar Law College in Aurangabad from 1990 to 1992.

Justice Varale worked as an assistant government pleader and additional public prosecutor at the Bombay High Court bench in Aurangabad and as additional standing counsel for the Union of India. He was appointed as a Bombay High Court judge on July 18, 2008.

Last month, a bench led by Justice Varale allowed pleas by nine persons, including Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) Union Territory administrator Praful Khoda Patel, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police first information report (FIR) over the death of parliamentarian Mohan Delkar on February 22 last year.

The high court bench led by him initiated a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) on a stalled project to publish the writings and speeches of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.

A division bench led by Justice Varale also initiated a suo motu PIL in January this year wherein the court took cognisance of a news report about the risky journey of girls from Khirkhindi village in Satara district, who had to row a boat across the Koyna dam every day to reach their school. The bench asked the Maharashtra government to provide help to school children facing a similar plight in the state.

Meanwhile, the Centre is yet to notify Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta’s elevation as a Supreme Court judge which the collegium recommended in its September 26 meeting.

Earlier this year, two Bombay High Court judges — Justice S S Shinde and Justice Amjad A Sayed — were elevated as chief justices of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh High Courts, respectively. While Justice Shinde retired as the CJ of Rajasthan High Court last month, Justice Sayed’s tenure as CJ of Himachal Pradesh High Court will continue till January 2023.

In April 2019, Justice Abhay S Oka of the Bombay High Court was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court and in August 2021, he was further elevated as a Supreme Court judge.

The Centre on October 6 issued a notification for the appointment of six judicial officers as additional judges of the Bombay High Court. They are Sanjay Deshmukh, Yanshivraj Khobragade, Mahendra Chandwani, Abhay Waghwase, Ravindra Joshi and Vrushali Joshi.

The Supreme Court collegium in its September 7 meeting approved a proposal for their elevation.

The Bombay High Court is currently functioning with 67 judges: 43 permanent and 24 additional judges. However, the sanctioned strength of the court, which is the second largest in the country after Allahabad High Court, is 94. After Justice Varale’s elevation, the total strength of the high court will be 66.