History in Making: J Gita Mittal’s name recommended for J&K CJ

JAMMU: In 90 years of its establishment, during which there have been over 100 justices, the Jammu & Kashmir High Court has not witnessed a single woman judge. All that is going to change soon, however, as a month after Centre cleared the name of Sindhu Sharma as state high court judge, the Supreme Court Collegium on Friday recommended Justice Gita Mittal as new Chief Justice of J&K High Court.

Justice Mittal, presently Acting Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, will take over the office of Chief Justice for the J&K High Court which has been lying vacant since March 15, 2018 after the retirement of Chief Justice Badar Durez Ahmed.

The Supreme Court Collegium comprising Chief Justice of India Deepak Mishra, Justice Ranjan Gagoi First Puisne Judge and Justice Madan B Lokur recommended on July 16 Justice Mittal’s name to the Union Law Ministry which is expected to approve her name soon which will be then forwarded to the President for issuance of a formal warrant of appointment.

Ms. Justice Gita Mittal is senior-most Judge from Delhi High Court and has been functioning as Acting Chief Justice in that High Court since April 2017. Having regard to all relevant factors, the Collegium finds “Ms. Justice Gita Mittal suitable in all respects for appointment as Chief Justice of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, and resolves to recommend that she be appointed as Chief Justice of that High Court.

While making the above recommendation the Collegium has taken into consideration the fact that at present there is only one Chief Justice from Delhi High Court which has the special status of being the High Court for the national capital,” The resolution passed by the Collegium stated.

Last month, the Centre had approved the name of Sindhu Sharma, presently serving as Assistant Solicitor General of India, besides two others Advocate Wasim Sadiq Nargal and Judicial Officer Rashid Ali Dar.

Sandhu’s name has been forwarded to the President for issuance of a formal warrant of appointment, credible sources informed.

It will interesting to see whether Sandhu or Justice Mittal will take the honour of becoming the first woman judge of the state high court.

Once approved by President, Sindhu will be initially appointed as a judge of the HC for a two-year period as an additional judge and then will be conferred the status of a permanent judge after the collegium is satisfied with his or her judicial work.

Meanwhile, 59-year-old Justice Mittal who was confirmed as a permanent judge of Delhi High Court on the 20th of February, 2006, has been at its helm since April 2017 and has ushered in many changes during her tenure.

As a judge, she has presided over several jurisdictions including heading a Division Bench hearing criminal appeals involving life and death sentence references; matters of the Armed Forces; Cooperative Societies; Criminal Contempt References; Criminal Appeals; Death References; Company Appeals; Writ Petitions and Letters Patent Appeals relating to the Armed Forces. She currently presides over a Division Bench hearing writ petitions arising out of orders of the Central Administrative Tribunal and other service matters.

Deeply engaged with the work of institutional strengthening, Justice Mittal has also served as a member of the Committee Against Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place; Working Conditions and Welfare Committee For Judicial Officers/staff of High Court and District Courts; Committee to assess the performance of additional Judges of this Court while recommending their appointment as permanent Judges and to assess the judgments of additional Judges for the purpose of extension of their terms as additional Judges; Library Committee; Committee on Introduction of Evening Courts/Shift System in Subordinate Courts; and the Examination-cum-Judicial Education and Training Programme Committee.

If approved by the Central government, Justice Mittal would be the second consecutive Chief Justice Jammu & Kashmir High Court would have from Delhi High Court, the earlier one being Justice BD Ahmed.