MUMBAI: The Centre on Tuesday issued a notification appointing justice Nitin Jamdar as the acting chief justice of the Bombay high court (HC) as incumbent chief justice Ramesh Deokinandan Dhanuka demitted office Tuesday evening. CJ Dhanuka had the shortest tenure of three days in the history of the high court. He was sworn in on Sunday as the 46th chief justice of HC.
According to the notification issued under Article 223 of the Constitution, justice Jamdar will take over as acting chief justice from May 31.
Justice Jamdar was born in a family of lawyers in Solapur on January 10, 1964, and followed the footsteps of his father and grandfather who also were in the legal field. After completing his school education from various schools across Maharashtra, justice Jamdar completed graduation in Commerce from Sydenham College and thereafter pursued an LLB degree from the Government Law College, Mumbai.
Justice Jamdar practised in the Bombay HC in diverse fields, primarily in administrative and constitutional law. He represented various public bodies, including zilla parishads, municipal councils, municipal corporations and universities. He also represented the Bar Council of India and the HC administration and was a senior standing counsel for the Union of India.
He was appointed as a judge of the Bombay high court on January 23, 2012, and being among the top five senior judges was part of the HC administrative committee as well. Justice Jamdar is a man of few words, and it is evident from his crisp and to-the-point orders and observations.
The post of acting chief justice was held by justice S V Gangapurwala for over five months from December 2022 till May 26 when the centre notified his elevation to the post of chief justice of the Madras high court. He was sworn in on Sunday, May 28. The notification of justice Dhanuka the senior judge after CJ Gangapurwala was elevated as the CJ of Mumbai was also issued on May 26.
With the retirement of CJ Dhanuka, the HC, which has a sanctioned strength of 94 will be functioning with only 63 judges, including 40 permanent judges and 23 additional judges.