MUMBAI: The
new Chief Justice of
Bombay high court, Dipankar Datta will be sworn in at a very small ceremony on April 28 at 5 pm in Raj Bhavan’s banquet hall. The event is expected to be attended by less than 35 persons including governor
Bhagat Singh Koshyari, chief minister
Uddhav Thackeray, leader of opposition and former CM
Devendra Fadnavis, the new Chief Justice, his wife and one son.
It will abide strictly by the Covid-19
lockdown and social distancing norms put in place, said Supreme Court secretary general Sanjeev Kalgaonkar.
The new CJ replaces CJ Bhushan Dharmadhikari who retires on April 28. Justice Datta was elevated from as CJ of Bombay high court from Calcutta high court where he was the second seniormost judge. He hails from a family of judges.
The outgoing
CJ Dharmadhikari had been appointed acting CJ after former CJ Pradeep Nandrajog retired and appointed CJ on March 18 when he had already drastically curtailed court hours in the face of covid-19 lockdown and social distancing norms and his tenure ends in the ongoing lockdown itself.
While bringing in video-conferencing for extremely urgent matters during the restrictions in place, CJ Dharmadhikari also said that the HC is also considering setting up such facility on a long term basis.
The seniormost judge of the Bombay high court now is Justice Amjad Sayed.