Jammu: Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena was on Tuesday given additional charge of Jammu and Kashmir during the “absence, on leave”, of incumbent Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who is currently in the United States on an official visit, official sources said.
The President of India has appointed Saxena to discharge the functions of the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to his own duties, during Sinha’s absence.
“The President of India is pleased to appoint Vinai Kumar Saxena, Lt. Governor of Ladakh to discharge the functions of the Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to his own duties, during the absence, on leave, of Manoj Sinha, Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir,” a communique issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
Sinha, who took charge as the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir on August 7, 2020, is currently abroad on an official visit, sources said.
The interim arrangement will remain in force during the period of Sinha’s leave. Saxena will continue to discharge his existing responsibilities as the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh while also overseeing the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir.
Saxena, who is currently in Srinagar, will administer the oath of office to Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati as the new Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Wednesday.
The ceremony is scheduled for 11 am at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar.
The oath-taking will mark the first time since Ladakh became a Union Territory in August 2019 that its Lieutenant Governor will administer the oath to the Chief Justice of the common High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Traditionally, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir has administered the oath of office to newly appointed Chief Justices of the High Court. However, with Sinha currently on leave, the responsibility has been assigned to Saxena, who has been given additional charge of the J&K LG’s office.
President Droupadi Murmu appointed Justice Bhati, a senior judge of the Rajasthan High Court, as Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on September 5.
His appointment will take effect from the date he assumes charge.
Justice Bhati will succeed Justice Sanjeev Kumar, who has been serving as the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court since June 2.
The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended Justice Bhati’s name for the post on August 31.
Justice Bhati was elevated to the Bench on November 16, 2016, and brings extensive judicial experience to his new role.
The oath-taking ceremony also comes against the backdrop of a significant development in Ladakh’s judicial administration.
The regulation enabling a new bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to sit in Ladakh officially came into force on September 5.
The Union Cabinet had approved the proposal on August 20, while President Murmu promulgated the Union Territory of Ladakh (Sitting of Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in Ladakh) Regulation, 2026, on August 27.
Although the regulation is now legally operational, the physical bench is yet to be established and will require substantial logistical and infrastructural arrangements.
The proposed bench is expected to improve access to justice for litigants from remote areas of Ladakh, who currently have to travel to Srinagar or Jammu for High Court matters.
Justice Bhati has over three decades of legal practice and judicial service.
His professional experience spans service law, writ jurisdiction, revenue, elections, mining, education, Panchayati Raj, criminal law and public interest litigation.
Before his elevation to the Bench, he served twice as Rajasthan’s Additional Advocate General and represented institutions including the Indian Railways, ONGC, RBI, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Jai Narain Vyas University.
He has also contributed to legal education, serving as visiting faculty at Jai Narain Vyas University for nearly two decades and at the National Law University, Jodhpur, for a year.
The appointment of Saxena to discharge the functions of the J&K Lieutenant Governor during Sinha’s leave provides the constitutional basis for the interim arrangement.
His role in administering the oath to the new Chief Justice also gives the September 9 ceremony significance beyond the leadership transition in the High Court.
For Ladakh, the occasion comes at a time when its institutional presence within the shared judicial framework of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is evolving, particularly with the regulation for a bench in Ladakh now in force.
