New Chief Justices appointed to 4 high courts

The central government notified the appointment of Chief Justices for the High Courts of Gujarat, Tripura, Gauhati and Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Justice Sonia Giridhar Gokani has been appointed CJ of Gujarat, making her the first woman CJ of the HC. Justice Sandeep Mehta has been appointed CJ of Gauhati High Court, while Justice Jaswant Singh will be the new Chief Justice of Tripura High Court. Justice N Kotiswar Singh has been appointed as CJ of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. The SC Collegium had recommended Justice Gokhani’s name for elevation on February 9. She is the senior most judge of the HC and is due to retire on February 25. Recommending her name, the Collegium had noted that she being drawn from Gujarat state judicial service, it “will bring a sense of inclusion and facilitate a representation for judges drawn from the services in the office of Chief Justice”. The Collegium had recommended the name of Justice Mehta, of the Rajasthan High Court, for elevation as CJ of Gauhati HC on February 8. It had earlier recommended the name of Justice K Vinod Chandran of Kerala HC as CJ of Gauhati HC. This was recalled later and Justice Chandran was recommended for appointment as CJ of Patna HC.