Justice Ravi Shankar Jha was sworn in as the 35th Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore on Sunday.
Jha’s appointment as the Punjab and Haryana HC Chief Justice was notified by the President of India on Thursday to fill the post, created by the elevation of Justice Krishna Murari to the Supreme Court last month.
In the interim, Justice Rajiv Sharma was officiating as the Acting Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Jha, 58-year-old, had earlier been officiating as Acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court since June this year.
Enrolled as an advocate in the Madhya Pradesh High Court in September 1986, Justice Jha practiced on civil, revenue and constitutional sides at the High Court at Jabalpur before being elevated as a permanent judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 2007.
Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh conducted the proceedings of the swearing-in-ceremony, which was attended by, among others, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, at the Punjab Raj Bhawan.
Besides an array of distinguished Judges from the High Court and the lower Courts, Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh, Media Advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister Raveen Thukral, Punjab Advocate-General Atul Nanda and Punjab Chief Information Commissioner Suresh Arora and Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta attended the function.
Besides the family members of the newly appointed Chief Justice, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh, Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, Additional Chief Secretary Sports Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary Finance Anirudh Tewari, DGP Chandigarh Sanjay Beniwal, Principal Secretary to Punjab Governor JM Balamurgam and Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Mandip Singh Brar were present at the ceremony.