The Union government, on Wednesday, October 13, appointed 14 new judges to the Kerala, Telangana and Orissa High Courts. Those appointed include 12 judicial officers, one advocate and a member of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ATIT). While seven judges were appointed to the Telangana High Court, four were appointed to the Kerala High Court. The Orissa High Court got three new judges in the latest appointments. The Department of Justice in the Law Ministry issued a list of the latest set of appointments.

For the Telangana High Court, Judicial Officers Perugu Sree Sudha, Dr Chillakur Sumalatha, Dr Gurijala Radha Rani, Munnuri Laxman, Noonsavath Tukaramji and Addula Venkateshwara Reddy, along with Patlolla Madhavi Devi (an ITAT member) have been appointed to be Judges by the Union government, after their names were recommended by the Supreme Court in August, LiveLaw reported.

Four Additional Judges were appointed to the Kerala High Court -- Judicial Officers Chandrashekharan Kartha Jayachandran, Sophy Thomas, Puthen Veedu Gopala Pillai Ajithkumar and Chandrasekharan Sudha. The Supreme Court had recommended them on September 1. Meanwhile, Advocate Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo and Judicial Officers Radha Krishna Pattanaik and Sashikanta Mishra have been appointed to the Odisha High Court.

On Monday, October 11, Justice Ritu Raj Aswathi was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, succeeding Justice Shreeniwas Oka, who was elevated as a judge in the Supreme Court earlier in August. CJ Ritu Raj Aswathi had previously served in the Allahabad High Court.

On Wednesday, a new Chief Justice was also sworn into the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, who was the acting Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court until recently, was sworn in by Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan.

In August, nine judges were elevated to positions in the Supreme Court. Among them were Justices Oka and BV Nagarathna from the Karnataka High Court, and Justice Hima Kohli from the Telangana High Court. The other names included Justice CT Ravikumar, Justice MM Sundresh, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice PS Narasimha. This was the first time that nine judges took oath as Supreme Court Justices in one go.

(With PTI input)