Justice Aradhe is acting CJ J&K

New Delhi, May 11: The Central government Friday notified that Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar will be the next Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court. Another judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, Justice Alok Aradhe will take over as Acting Chief Justice after Justice Sudhakar’s transfer.

Justice Sudhakar initially served as judge of the Madras High Court, prior to his appointment to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. He was later made Chief Justice of that High Court.

Last month, the Collegium had noted that the working judge strength of the Manipur High Court currently stands at two, against the sanctioned strength of five. Justice Sudhakar’s name was therefore recommended as the next Chief Justice, also considering that for quite some time there has been no Chief Justice from the Madras High Court which is one of the largest High Courts.

Consequently, Justice Alok Aradhe has been appointed to take over the duties of the Chief Justice. A notification issued to this effect states,

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 100 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Justice Alok Aradhe senior-most Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, after Shri Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar, and Shri Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, to perform the duties of the office of the Chief Justice of that High Court consequent upon the appointment of Shri Ramalingam Sudhakar, and Shri Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir as Chief Justices of Manipur and Meghalaya High Court, respectively, and relinquishing their office as Judges of Jammu and Kashmir High Court.”

Justice Aradhe is the senior most judge of the J&K High Court after Justice Sudhakar and Justice Yaqoob Mir, whose appointment as Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court was notified on Thursday.