Justice B P Dharmadhikari named Acting CJ of Bombay HC
   Date :25-Feb-2020

Justice B P Dharmadhikari
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
For the first time, Chief Justice of India and Chief Justice of Bombay High Court are from Nagpur 
 
Justice Bhushan Pradyumna Dharmadhikari, a Nagpurian, has been named as Acting Chief Justice (CJ) of Bombay High Court from Monday. Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification in this regard naming Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari as the Acting Chief Justice of Bombay Court pursuant to retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog who demitted his office on Monday.
 
For the first time, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Bhushan Dharmadhikari both are from Nagpur. This is a very unique and glorious coincidence for the city. The legal fraternity here has warmly welcomed this development and wished all the sucess to Justice Dharmadhikari.
 
So far, the Supreme Court collegium has not named anybody as Chief Justice of Bombay High Court and as per convention, Justice Dharmadhikari has become Acting Chief Justice and may even be named as the full-fledged Chief Justice till his retirement which is just two months away -- April 28, 2020. Justice Vijaya Kapse-Tahilramani and Justice Naresh Patil were named as Acting CJ for quite some time after retirement or elevation of then Chief Justices. Since Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari is due to retire on April 28, he may also be appointed as the Chief Justice as most of the High Court judges in other High Courts are junior to him as well. Therefore, according to legal experts, he has a bright chance to head Bombay High Court, albeit for a shorter duration.
 
As per established conventions, senior judges with less than one year or shorter duration to spare, have been allowed to head the same high court. Recently, Naresh Patil was allowed to head the Bombay High Court for few months (from October 29, 2018 to April 7, 2019) and same precedent could be applied in case of Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari. This is subject to approval by the Supreme Court collegium. During last two weeks, after sudden resignation of senior judge Justice S C Dharmadhikari, and transfer of Justice Ranjit More to Meghalaya High Court, the assignments of Mumbai bench have also undergone a major change and the composition of administrative committee too has changed completely.