Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra sworn in as Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice
Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday, September 7, with Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria administering the oath at Lok Bhawan.
Justice Mishra had been serving as the acting Chief Justice of the high court since June. His appointment as the regular Chief Justice was notified by the Centre on Saturday, nearly a month after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended his elevation.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Haryana Governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Haryana Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan, Akali MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia and Punjab Chief Secretary K A P Sinha.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, whose government had opposed Justice Mishra’s appointment, was absent from the ceremony.
The swearing-in took place despite the Punjab Cabinet passing a resolution on Sunday seeking a pause in the appointment process until the state government’s concerns were addressed. The Mann-led government had argued that Justice Mishra’s appointment was made without obtaining the state’s views and alleged that established constitutional procedures had been bypassed.
Mann had also written to President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Kataria, raising objections to the appointment. The Punjab Cabinet, which held an emergency meeting on Sunday, maintained that the appointment and oath-taking should be kept on hold until the state’s views were obtained and considered.
The state government described the decision as another instance of the Centre allegedly bypassing Punjab’s constitutional rights and established procedures.
However, Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain rejected the objections, calling the controversy “most unfortunate and totally uncalled for”. He said the Punjab government had been given sufficient time to communicate its views on the appointment.
with inpts from PTI
