Justice DH Waghela on Thursday was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court. Governor Dr SC Jamir administered the oath of office to Justice Waghela, who became the 29th Chief Justice of the High Court established here on July 26, 1948. Earlier, Justice Waghela was the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.
With Justice Waghela joining the Bench, the strength of the Judges in the High Court went up to 22, including five Additional Judges, thereby completing the sanctioned strength. Although the law Commission of India in 2008 had suggested for having at least 27 judges in the High Court to clear the backlog of cases within five years, the State Government is actively considering to enhance the strength, sources said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, his Cabinet colleagues law minister Arun Sahu and the only Minister from Cuttack district Debi Prasad Mishra, DGP Sanjeev Marik, Commissioner of Police RP Sharma and many other senior officials of the State were present at the swearing-in ceremony that was held in the High Court premises.
Similarly, all the HC Judges, many former judges, Advocate General SP Mishra and HC Bar Association president Ashok Mohapatra were also present on the occasion. Chief Secretary GC Pati read out the Presidential warrant of appointment of the Chief Justice.
Born to a family of artists and artisans in Rajkot on August 11, 1954, Justice Waghela completed llM from the Saurashtra University in 1977 at the age of 22 and began practising law in the following year. He was elevated to the Bench of the Gujarat High Court as an Additional Judge in 1999. He was made the Chief Justice of the Karnataka HC in March 2013 and in the same capacity he was transferred here in April this year.