Rajiv Sharma has been made the officiating chief justice of the high court of Uttarakhand. This appointment will be considered to be in effect from the date of chief justice KM Joseph leaving the post following his elevation to the Supreme Court.
The appointment letter signed by the Ministry of law and Justice joint secretary (administration and appointment of judges) Rajinder Kumar Kashyap has reached the office of the Uttarakhand high court’s registrar general. It is pertinent to mention here that hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Sharmawas born on October 8, 1958 and obtained his llB degree from Himachal University before becoming an advocate in 1982. After being designated a senior advocate in 2002, during his practice he was considered an expert in constitutional law, administrative law, employment cases and environmental law among other subjects. In April 2007 he was made an additional judge in Himachal Pradesh high court and confirmed as permanent judge in March 2013. On September 26, 2016 he was transferred to the high court of Uttarakhand. He was involved in issuing various important orders including that of according living entity status to the Ganga river and that of removing encroachments from Corbett national park, Dehradun and other towns. His image is that of a judge focused on swift disposal of cases. In the recent past he disposed of public interest litigations on a daily basis in cases which had been pending in the high court since 2012.