By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The central government has notified the appointment of Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat High Court Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala as Supreme Court judges.
The five-member collegium headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had made the recommendation in a meeting on May 5.
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia hails from Madanpur, a remote village located in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand.
His paternal grandfather Bhairav Dutt Dhulia was a freedom fighter and was sentenced to seven years in jail for his participation in the ‘Quit India Movement’ (he served the jail sentence for about three years, before he was released, along with other freedom fighters).
Justice Dhulia was born on 10 August, 1960 in Lansdowne, Pauri Garhwal and had his early education in Dehradun and Allahabad.
He was the first Chief Standing Counsel in the High Court of Uttarakhand and was later an Additional Advocate General for the state of Uttarakhand. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 2004. He was elevated as the Judge of High Court ofUttarakhand in November 2008 and later became the Chief Justice of the High Court of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh on 10 January 2021.
Justice JB Pardiwala was born on 12 August, 1965 and obtained his degree in Law from the K.M. Mulji Law College, Valsad in 1988.
Justice Pardiwala is a fourth generation legal professional in a family of lawyers.
Justice Pardiwala started practising law in the High Court of Gujarat in 1990. He was elected as a member of the Bar Council of Gujarat in 1994. He was appointed as the Standing Counsel for the High Court of Gujarat in 2002 and held the office till the date of his elevation to the Bench on 17 February 2011.
As on date, he is one of the members of the Standing Committee and Co-ordination Committee of the High Court of Gujarat and is also Chairman of the purchase committee. As ex-officio President of the Gujarat State Judicial Academy he has undertaken many programmes and initiatives for the betterment of the district judiciary.
The Supreme Court, with 32 judges, at present has two vacancies out of the sanctioned strength of 34 judges. The top court will have more vacancies due to the retirement of Justices Vineet Saran and L Nageswara Rao in the next two months. CJI NV Ramana, Justices Indira Banerjee and UU Lalit are retiring in the months of August, September and November respectively.
