Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi was on Monday, October 11, sworn in as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on Monday. Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot administered the oath of office to Justice Awasthi in a function organised in the Glass House of the Raj Bhavan. Justice Awasthi was serving in the Allahabad High Court before being appointed as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. He succeeds Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court earlier this year in August.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, ministers Govind Karajol, BC Patil, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and judges of the High Court and senior bureaucrats were present on the occasion.
Born on July 3, 1960, Justice Awasthi graduated in Law from Lucknow University in 1986. He practised in civil, service, and educational matters at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. He also worked as Assistant Solicitor General at Lucknow before his elevation to the bench. He was elevated as Additional Judge of High Court of Judicature at Allahabad on April 13, 2009 and took oath as permanent judge on December 24, 2010.
In a recent judgment, a division bench headed by Justice Awasthi at the Allahabad High Court underlined that the future of India depended on the revival of the river Ganga and every effort should be made in this direction, recalling the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while contesting Varanasi constituency about serving the Ganga.
The post of Chief Justice fell vacant after Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka was elevated as a Supreme Court Judge and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of the High Court.