Justice Dinesh Maheshwari has been appointed as the new chief justice of the Karnataka High Court.
Sixty-year-old Maheshwari, who has been transferred from the Meghalaya High Court, faces the tough task of managing the bigger High Court as its administrative head, since it is facing an acute shortage of judges and a number of cases piling up. Against the sanctioned strength of 62 judges, only 24 posts are filled. There are about 3.24 lakh cases pending.
The new chief justice will assume the charge on or before Feb. 20 with approval of his name by President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday.
Notably, the Chief Justice of India-led Collegium had on Jan. 10 recommended the name of Justice Maheshwari as chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, though he came below Justice H G Ramesh, acting chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, based on all India seniority. Justice Maheshwari was transferred “in the interest of better administration of justice” to the Karnataka High Court.
The office of the Chief Justice of the Karnataka HC was lying vacant after the retirement of Justice S K Mukherjee on Oct. 9 last year.
Born on May 15, 1958, Justice Maheshwari has a B.Sc. (Hons) in Physics degree from Maharaja's College, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
He completed his L.L.B. from Jodhpur University in 1980 and enrolled as an advocate on March 8, 1981.
Justice Maheshwari took his oath as judge of the Rajasthan High Court on Sept. 2, 2004. He was transferred to the Allahabad High Court as a judge on March 2, 2015, before being elevated to chief justice of the Meghalaya HC on Feb. 24, 2016.
Justice Maheshwari's father, the late Ramesh Chandra Maheshwari, was an eminent lawyer at Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur.
(Published 07 February 2018, 10:06 IST)
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