Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Justice Dr (Mrs) Manjula Chellur on Monday took oath of office as the new Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.
Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office to Justice Chellur at a brief swearing in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
Prior to her appointment as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, Justice Manjula Chellur was the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. She also functioned as the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court earlier.
Sixty-year-old Chellur has become only the second woman Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in its 154-year-old history of Bombay High Court which was inaugurated on August 14, 1862 and celebrated its 155th anniversary last week.
Born on December 5, 1955 at Bellary as daughter of C. Bheemappa Chetty and Rangamma, Chellur completed her llB degree from Renukacharya law College, Bangalore in 1977. She enrolled herself as an Advocate on August 11, 1978.
She was the first lady advocate to practise at courts of Bellary. She served as legal advisor for several banks, agro industries, Karnataka Electricity Board and handled several important cases in courts on both on civil and criminal sides,
Having become Karnataka Judicial Service as District Judge on April 15, 1988, Chellur was appointed as Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court in February 2000 and as a
permanent judge August 17, 2000.
Before becoming the Additional Judge of Karnataka high court, Chellur did a fellowshop training on Gender and law in 1997 at Warwick University in England.
Besides being the President of the Karnataka Judicial Academy from June 21, 2008 to March 25, 2010. She also worked as the Executive Chairperson of the Karnataka State legal Services Authority. While holding this post, she worked for the welfare of transgenders and arranged seminars throughout the State.
On her transfer to the Kerala High Court, Chellur assumed charge as Acting Chief Justice on 09.11.2011. later on September 25, 2012, Chellur became the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court.
In recognition of the outstanding contributions in the field of law the Karnataka State Womens’ University, Bijapur honoured her with a degree of Doctor of law (Honoris Causa) at the fourth annual convocation held on March 3, 2013 at Bijapur. She took over as the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court August 5, 2014.