Justice Dipankar Dutta was sworn in as the 45th Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court by the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on 28th April 2020. The ceremony was live-streamed and the guests maintained social-distancing and were also wearing masks according to COVID-19 protocol. Justice Dutta made a 2,000-km, three-day road journey starting April 25, to reach Mumbai to take up his new position. It took him three days and the Justice did not want any delays.
He was formerly the second-senior judge at Calcutta High Court. The Maharashtra Governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath to Justice Dipankar Dutta at the swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan, Bombay. The Chief Secretary, Ajoy Mehta read out the notification of the appointment of the Chief Justice issued by the President of India at the ceremony. The event concluded with the national anthem being played by the Police Band. The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, in the exercise of powers conferred in the Clause 1 of the Article 217 of the Constitution of India, made the appointment of Justice Dipankar Datta as the Chief justice of Bombay High Court.
The Former Chief Justice, Bhushan P Dharmadhikari, who was sworn in on March 20, served his last day in office on Monday, April 27. He heard urgent matters via video-conferencing amidst the lockdown. He had served Bombay HC for nearly 16 years when he retired at the age of 62.
Among the guests present were Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker,
Nana Patole, Minister of Tourism, Protocol and Environment Aaditya Thackeray, family members of Justice Dutta, judges of the Bombay High Court, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, Director General of Police Subodh Jaiswal and Commissioner of Police Parambir Singh.
About Justice Dutta and his Career
Justice Dutta was born in February 1965 and obtained his LLB. Degree from the University of Calcutta. Justice Datta’s father, Salil Kumar Datta, was also a judge at the Calcutta HC and his brother-in-law, Amitava Roy, is a former SC judge. He started his career as an advocate in 1989 and practised in various High Courts including Calcutta HC, Gauhati HC and Jharkhand HC. He also practised in the Supreme Court during his career life as an advocate. He had also worked as Junior Standing Counsel and Central Government Counsel for the State of West Bengal. He was appointed as the Chief Justice of Calcutta HC on 22nd June, 2006. During his tenure as an advocate at the Supreme Court, he dealt with Constitutional, service and labour matters for about 16 years. He has also held the office of Lawyer-in-Charge of the University of West Bengal and the West Bengal School Service Commission.
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